


Brian Schechter's School For The Gifted

by casesandcapitals



Series: Mutant!Verse [1]
Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, The Used
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bert is not a bad guy, Coming of Age, F/M, Invisibility, Kidnapping, M/M, Mutant, Mutant Rights, Sexual Content, Telepathy, Villains, Violence, Wingfic, mutant education, super powers, teenagers in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-15
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2017-11-25 15:34:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 55
Words: 72,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/640371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casesandcapitals/pseuds/casesandcapitals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brian Schechter's School For The Gifted is opening in September, but Gerard doesn't want to go. He hates it when people make fun of his giant bat wings or fawn over his much more talented little brother.<br/>But Gerard finds that he loves being at school with other mutants who make him feel normal, especially his roommate Frank. But all is not as it seems and soon students begin to go missing...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [The Calypso Initiatitive ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/280176/chapters/445241) by theficisalie
> 
> Eternal, undying thanks to Mikki for her constant hand-holding and brain storming. For providing me with detailed humanoid wing anatomy charts and pretty pictures. For looking up super powers when I'm too lazy to, and for constantly making sure I want to work on this story. BSSFTG wouldn't exist without her :)
> 
> I'd love it if someone would make art for this story, based on any chapter, scene, or character. I feel like this story has the potential for some great pieces, but I can't art...  
> If you want to do something based on BSSFTG, you can post it on tumblr under the BSSFTG tag or the casesandcapitals tag and I'll post it at the top of one of the chapters XD

"But Ma," Gerard whined, "I don't wanna go."

"Gerard, you're going," his mom said sternly. "You need to go to school, okay? If you refuse to go to public school then you have to go to the new academy."

"But-"

"Plus, Mikey's going and you need to watch after him."

Gerard pursed his lips. It wasn't fair when she put it like that. He pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his wings around him so he could hide. His mom sighed, throwing her hands into the air, and left his bedroom.

 _It'll be fun_ , Mikey whispered.

"No, it won't," Gerard moaned into his knees. "And stay out of my head, would you?"

Mikey sent him a huffy silence before he withdrew.

Gerard could hear his mom up in the kitchen a moment later, talking to Mikey. Mikey was responding telepathically, like always.

Gerard wrapped his wings closer to him. The air around him was already starting to get warm from being trapped between his body and the taut skin of his wings.

His big, stupid, leathery, bat wings.

Gerard didn't want to go to some fancy new school for people with "gifts". It wasn't going to make any difference anyway. People were still going to make fun of him.

.

Brian Schechter's School for the Gifted was officially opening in September and kids all over the country were excitedly packing their things and kissing their parents goodbye.  


Except Gerard. Gerard was moping. He refused to leave his basement bedroom for days after his parents decided to send him away.

The thing was, he secretly loved his wings. He liked the leathery feel of them and the way he could hide under them if he wanted. He didn't particularly like the black fur that grew around where they joined with his back, and he didn't like that they got in the way a lot. But he loved them. He could fly, you know? It was totally awesome.

But people could be cruel, especially when you're an awkward teenager with giant fucking wings. Some of the kids at school made fun of Gerard because he didn't have a cool power or anything. Old people stared at him when he went to the store and little kids were always gaping at him, asking if he drank blood. Gerard hadn't left his house all summer, he preferred to stay in the cool, dark basement where his bedroom was. _The Bat Cave_ , Mikey always called it.

Mikey was the lucky one, Gerard thought jealously. He was telepathic _and_ could become invisible. It seriously wasn't fair. He looked totally normal on the outside, too. The only reason people ever noticed that Mikey was a mutant was because he refused to talk out loud. He would always just project his thoughts to Gerard and let him do the talking. Gerard didn't mind that part so much, especially when Mikey would tell him what other people were thinking. It frustrated their parents to no end.

.

Gerard was lying in bed, sulking in the dark. He had long ago covered up the tiny window near the ceiling so no light could get in. One of his wings was crumpled up because he was laying on his side. Mikey was curled up next to him, invisible, and they were watching a movie.

_People won't make fun of you there, Gee, they're weird too._

"Yeah, but they're probably weird like you, not weird like me," Gerard muttered.

Mikey sent him a question mark type feeling, like the impression of a furrowed brow, and Gerard sighed.

 _Like cool powers and stuff, you know?_ Gerard thought. _Not creepy bat wings._

 _Your wings aren't creepy. I like them_ , Mikey insisted.

Gerard sighed and stretched his free wing out, pushing it against the low ceiling.

 _They don't even do anything_ , Gerard moaned.

 _You can fly, stupid_. Mikey said with a mental eye-roll before adding, _Mom's coming_.

Gerard tucked his wing back down to his side and waited.

 _Now_ , Mikey snickered.

"Come in!" Gerard called out.

There was a pause and they both knew their mom was standing outside the door with her hand raised to knock. Then the door was pushed open, revealing their mother standing there with a shrewd look on her face.

"I'm assuming Mikey's in here with you?" she asked.

Mikey popped back into existence next to Gerard and smiled up at her.

"Ah hah," she said, rolling her eyes. "Dinner's ready and then you both need to finish packing."

"Maaaa," Gerard whined.

"Gerard Arthur Way you will eat your dinner upstairs like a normal person then you will pack without complaining or so help me God."

Gerard frowned.

"Think of what kind of influence you're being on your brother," she pressed. "You're going to make him not want to go tomorrow!"

 _No_ , Mikey projected to them both, _I wanna go, Gerard's being stupid._

Gerard was about to complain but his mom cut him off.

"See, even Mikey thinks you're being stupid. Now come on up and wash for dinner."

She turned and left. Mikey followed after her, sticking his tongue out at his older brother.

 _Brat_ , Gerard thought.

_Stop being stupid, Gee, it's gonna be awesome._


	2. In Which The Boys Take A Plane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
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> Banner created by [Miz Erie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MizErie/)  
> 

Their parents kissed them goodbye at the airport, reminding Gerard to take care of his little brother and to try and make friends.

"You'll have a great time," their dad insisted.

"Call us when you get there!" their mom called after them.

Gerard half-heartedly waved over his shoulder (and wing). Mikey was holding onto Gerard's hand and stumbling as he concentrated on communicating with their mom as long as possible. He walked backward, watching their family shrink, until Gerard tugged him around the corner. Mikey pouted.

When they went through security, Mikey was told he had to stay visible for the rest of the trip, which upset him even more. He was close to tears by the time they boarded the airplane headed towards Colorado.

Gerard was miserable. He couldn't sit comfortably in the tiny seats on the plane because of his wings and people were giving him weird looks. Mikey wouldn't let go of his hand.

"I thought you were excited to go to this school?" Gerard whispered.

_I was... I am. I miss mom._

"It'll be fine, we'll call her as soon as we land, okay?"

Mikey nodded morosely, his glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose.

_I wonder if there's any other kids on the plane that are going?_ Gerard muttered in his head.

_Hmm..._ Mikey thought. Gerard watched him shut his eyes and figured he was searching the plane. _Ooh! Yeah, up front, there's a guy thinking about the school!_

"Oh cool." _Can you tell what his thing is?_ Gerard asked, raising his head a bit to stare over the seats.

_He's thinking about wires and stuff, and how excited he is for classes to start.... Computer stuff. Now he's thinking about the plane. He thinks the stewardess is cute._

Gerard snickered. _Alright, alright. That's enough, Mikey._

Mikey smiled and withdrew his reach to just the two of them.

They continued to chat back and forth telepathically while the plane finished boarding and took off.

Mikey fell asleep after a while, curled up with a tiny white pillow, occasionally flickering in and out of sight. Gerard kept fidgeting in his seat, wishing he could open his wings completely. They were starting to get sore from being tucking into the seat. He wished he could get out and fly for a bit. He glanced out the window and changed his mind... they _were_ pretty high up. He pulled out his iPod and lost himself in the music for the rest of the flight.

.

Mikey dragged Gerard over to the first quiet corner he spotted.

_Gimme your phone!_

"Fine, fine. Here."

Mikey dialed the number and stuck the phone up to Gerard's face. He sighed and took it, listening to the ringing. He tried to ignore the glances from the people around them, but it was tough. Gerard eventually just unfolded his wings and hid himself and Mikey behind them.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ma, it's me."

"Gerard?"

_Obviously_ , he thought to Mikey, who snickered. "Yeah, we just landed. Mikey wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, was the flight alright? Is Mikey okay? Did they lose your bags?"

"Ma! The flight was fine, Mikey's fine, we both got our bags, everything's fine."

"Oh good," she sighed. "Is Mikey listening?"

_Yep_ , Mikey told Gerard.

"Yeah," Gerard confirmed over the phone.

"Oh honey, I miss you already!"

_Miss you too_ , Mikey sent to Gerard.

"He misses you too," Gerard said.

Times like these were the rare occasions where Gerard wished Mikey would just talk aloud sometimes. He hated having to relay stuff over the phone, or to people who didn't want Mikey talking to them in their heads. Mikey stuck his tongue out at Gerard.

They finished up their phone call, assuring their mother at least a dozen more times that they were completely fine, then left the airport to find the bus for the new school.

_Over there_ , Mikey said, pointing towards a bench that held one other boy. He had a large mass of orange, frizzled hair and a guitar case leaning against his suitcase.

_Is that the boy who was on our plane?_ Gerard asked.

_Yep._

They made their way over to where he was sitting, tugging their suitcases behind them. Gerard tried his best to keep from hitting other people with the ends of his wings.

"Hey," Gerard said when they stopped next to the bench.

"Woah, awesome," the boy responded as he looked up to see who had spoken.

"Uh, yeah."

"Oh, I mean- Hey. You guys going to Schechter's school too?" the red haired boy asked.

"Yeah. I'm Gerard, this is my brother, Mikey."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ray."

Mikey hoisted himself up onto the bench next to Ray. Gerard continued to stand; he was tired of sitting down with his wings all folded up and uncomfortable.

_Ask him if I can talk to him_ , Mikey told Gerard.

"Um, Mikey wants to know if he can talk to you in your head," he asked awkwardly.

"What?"

"Like, telepathically," Gerard clarified.

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure."

_Hey, you play guitar?_ Mikey asked immediately, letting Gerard in on the conversation as well.

"Woah, cool!" Ray exclaimed, his eyebrows shooting up into his hair. "Yeah, I love my guitar. Do you play?"

_You can answer in your head if you want, and no, not yet. I wanna play something someday though._

Ray shot Gerard a look before he turned his attention back to Mikey.

_What do you want to learn?_ he asked.

_I dunno, I was thinking about bass...._

Gerard let his attention wander as Mikey talked to his new friend. A lot of people were staring now. He wished he had a mutation what wasn't so big and obvious.

"Do you know when the bus gets here?" Gerard asked aloud to Ray, interrupting whatever they were talking about.

Ray reached a hand into his pocket. "It should be here in like ten minutes," he answered.

"FREAK!" someone shouted over the noise of vehicles and pedestrians.

_I'LL KILL YOU IN YOUR SLEEP!_ came Mikey's mentally-shouted response, targeting whoever had yelled at Gerard. Gerard saw a teenage boy on the opposite side of the road flinch and scramble away from them.

"What the hell?" Ray asked, looking around at Gerard and Mikey. Mikey must have forgotten to exclude Ray from his shout.

"Um," Gerard said, blushing bright red, "That happens sometimes."

Mikey reached out to grab Gerard's hand. He had started to unfurl his wings and wrap them around himself to hide.

_Don't hide Gee, ignore them._

Gerard tucked his wings away and gave Mikey a half-hearted smile.

_You're gonna get us in trouble one of these days_ , Gerard scolded.

_Whatever_ , Mikey responded, rolling his eyes. _They're lucky I don't have like, super strength or something._

Ray cleared his throat.

_So what's your thing?_ Mikey asked, turning his attention back to Ray.

"Mikey!" Gerard chastised, "Don't be rude!"

Ray blushed but laughed it off. "No, it's okay." He looked down at Mikey. _I can do stuff with technology, like, control it and manipulate it and stuff._

_Wow_ , Mikey answered.

"I can't believe they let you on the plane," Gerard said, then realized it had been out loud. "Oh! I mean-"

"No, it's okay," Ray smiled. "I had to write a bunch of letters and stuff to get security clearance." He chuckled. "My mom had to call the school and get them to get me on the flight."

_Normals are dumb_ , Mikey informed them.

"Mikey!" _Stop being so rude!_ Gerard told him.

Ray just laughed.


	3. In Which There's An Angel Named Frank

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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> Banner created by [Michaela](http://howrseluvar.deviantart.com/)  
> 

Eventually the tiny bus arrived, being driven by a huge man with bright yellow hair, and the boys climbed aboard. The bus was empty, so Gerard took a seat by himself, sitting sideways with his legs in the aisle so his wings wouldn't be cramped. Mikey sat across from him and Ray sat in front of Mikey, turning into the aisle to continue talking.

The bus driver looked at them all in his large rearview mirror and said "We're waiting on one more."

Gerard lifted his chin to look out the opposite window. Everyone he saw on the sidewalk was older, too old to go to school anymore. He unfurled his wings a little and tuned back into Mikey and Ray's conversation. They were discussing their favorite movies, which was definitely something Gerard could talk about. They chatted for a while until the bus driver decided to go look for the missing passenger. He returned a few minutes later and Gerard, Mikey, and Ray all looked up to see the new addition.

It was a lanky boy with brown hair and he was talking to the bus driver rapidly.

"I knew already that I was going to be late, see? So I stopped for a bagel and then I saw this little girl and I just had to tell her about the puppy she was getting for Christmas because she seemed so sad about moving, you know? And I knew I was going to meet someone with yellow hair this week and I was going to be excited when I did and that's why I hugged you when I saw you because I had forgotten all about the bus because we got so excited about the puppy and-"

"Okay, okay," the yellow haired bus driver said, obviously trying to calm the boy down. "Take a seat and we'll be on our way."

The boy practically bounced down the narrow aisle to sit in front of Gerard. He beamed at them.

"Hi! I'm Brendon!"

"Hey, I'm-"

"Ray!" Brendon cried. "You fix my laptop around Christmas! At least I think it's around Christmas because I saw the decorations but maybe they were just up for fun!"

"Uh, okay," Ray agreed.

"And Gerard and Mikey!" Brendon practically sang as the bus pulled away from the curb. "Your wings look so much cooler in person!"

Gerard didn't get to do much more than raise an eyebrow before Mikey was in his head.

"Uh, Mikey wants to know if he can-"

"Sure!"

Mikey didn't waste any time. _So, you can see the future, right?_

"Yep! I can see lots of stuff! My mom told me not to tell people too much because they'll get uncomfortable but I haven't seen that happen yet so I don't think it's a problem." He was grinning widely at them all as he sped through the words.

Gerard had no clue what to say, so he turned to look up at the bus driver in the rearview mirror as he maneuvered traffic. Mikey noticed him tune out, so he excluded Gerard from his thoughts as he continued to talk to Ray and Brendon.

He wondered if the yellow-haired man had any powers. He hadn't met too many mutated adults, but that was probably because most of them lived in big cities now.

It had been about forty years ago when children started being born with abnormalities, and it hadn't gone down the way it usually did in movies and books. The majority of society accepted the "new race" and treated them equally. There hadn't been a slew of protests or hate crimes. Scientists had been predicting for decades that this would happen eventually, so when it did, most people just shrugged their shoulders and got on with their lives.

Of course, there were some, like the guy at the airport, who didn't like people like Gerard and Mikey. The AML, the Anti-Mutant League, were constantly protesting and holding events and petitioning congress to get the "freaks" locked up and killed. They said it wasn't natural, it wasn't normal.

Gerard and Mikey had learned in school about how people used to hate people who were different. Gerard had shaken his head when he heard about it. Who cared about that stuff anyway? He had been so mad when he learned that gay people in the past hadn't been allowed to marry and that black people used to be forced into slavery. Their teacher told them how horrible humans in the past had been and how after many, many years we had finally gained equality for everyone.

The people who had held on to those hateful beliefs had passed them onto their children, and their children's children, and now those beliefs were being used against the only kind of "different" there was left; mutants.

Gerard wasn't too worried about it. It was only in the small towns in the southern states that people really got grief for being different, he had never even seen a protest in real life where he lived in New Jersey. His mother said the hot weather made people crazy. He chuckled to himself as he remembered that.

"Gerard?"

He blinked and shook his head, looking around. "Hmm?"

"I was just saying," Ray told him, "That we're here."

Gerard twisted in his seat to look out the window. Ray was right, they were turning onto a freshly paved road, flanked by stone pillars at the ends of a tall iron fence. The gates were opened and the bus drove through, traveling up a long winding driveway. Gerard, Mikey and Ray gaped as the huge brick building came into view and loomed above them. Brendon was muttering something about "bigger in person".

"Alright," the yellow-haired bus driver said, turning to look at them all. "Just go straight in through those doors and someone will get you checked in."

The boys thanked him as they got off the bus and lugged their suitcases up the steps and through the large wooden doors.

 _This place is awesome_ , Mikey sighed.

 _It does look pretty cool_ , Gerard answered.

Inside was a large entrance way with glossy white floors and dark wood walls, across the room were more stairs, one case leading up and another leading down. On either side of the staircases was a long hallway. The boys stood in a group for a moment, looking around, until Brendon uttered a small "Oh!"

A split second later there was a _pop!_ and suddenly there was a woman standing before them. Gerard's wings fluttered open a bit in shock, reflexively preparing to take flight. Mikey grabbed Gerard's hand, whether in shock or to keep him grounded, he wasn't sure.

"Welcome!" the woman cried happily. She had bright blonde hair and dark red lipstick. She was wearing a navy dress with a white belt and white high heels that clacked against the floor as she strode forward. "My name is Julie, welcome to Brian Schechter's School for the Gifted. Let's get you boys checked in."

She waved them forward as she turned and headed for the hallway exiting the right side of the room. Gerard and Ray glanced at each other before following her, Mikey still clutching his big brother's hand and Brendon bouncing after Julie without a second thought.

Julie led them down the hallway and past several rooms. Gerard started to see some of the other students as they walked, there were a few in the hallway and more in the rooms beyond. Most of them looked normal and Gerard was starting to worry that he'd be the only weird looking one in the entire school.

 _Gerard!_ Mikey whispered in his head. _Look!_

Gerard glanced at Mikey to see where he was looking, then turned and saw a girl with bright green and purple scales covering most of her body. Gerard smiled at the girl as she walked past in a black tank top and mini skirt. She grinned back at him.

 _See? You're not the only one!_ Mikey told him excitedly. Gerard squeezed his hand happily.

Julie turned into a room that looked like an office. A silver plaque on the door said **Administrations**. An overweight man behind a desk looked up and then back down.

"Checking in!" Julie grinned at the man. A smaller plaque on his desk said his name was Timothy.

"Name?" the man asked, looking up at Brendon, who was at the front of the group.

"Brendon Urie! Room 328!" Brendon chirped.

Timothy frowned at him then searched through a stack of folders at his elbow. He pulled one out from near the bottom and his frown deepened.

"Brendon Urie, room 328," he said, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

Julie giggled as Brendon took the folder that was handed to him with a smile.

"Name?" Timothy asked Ray.

"Ray Toro," he answered, stepping forward still clutching his bag and guitar.

The overweight man checked through his stack of folders and extracted Ray's folder with a grunt of "Room 262."

"Gerard Way," Gerard answered before the man could ask. Timothy nodded and pulled his folder out from almost the very bottom of the stack.

"Room 207. Name?" Timothy asked Mikey.

Mikey shrunk back and squeezed Gerard's hand tightly.

"Uhm, Mikey Way," Gerard answered for him.

Timothy crooked an eyebrow at him but proceeded to pull Mikey's folder out regardless. "Room 189."

Gerard took the folder and handed it to Mikey, who looked on the verge of tears again. Julie noticed.

"Don't worry sweetie, you're going to be roomed with a student your own age but your brother will only be one staircase away," she told Mikey with a soft smile. "Okay?"

Mikey tried to smile and failed then gave Julie a weak nod.

"Okay," she smiled, "I'll show you boys to your rooms!"

They followed after her as she headed back into the hallway. Timothy grumbled to himself as if they had interrupted him in the middle of something very important as he returned to the papers in front of him.

Gerard kept up a constant stream of reassurances to Mikey as they walked to the end of the hallway and began ascending a large twisted staircase. There were a lot more students in this hallway then there had been downstairs and they all seemed to be Mikey's age.

"The first years are all on this floor," Julie explained over the racket of 11 year olds talking and laughing and a strange crackling sound coming from one of the rooms. "The oldest students are on the second to top floor and the rest are all mixed in together on the floors between." Julie paused to scold a boy for running, then continued on her way, leading the boys. "The very top floor is restricted to students, as is the basement except for classes. Your folders contain maps and a list of rules as well as your class schedule."

Julie paused in front of room 189 and continued talking.

"Each floor has a faculty member assigned to it that will monitor floor activities and who you can go to with any questions or concerns." She looked down to speak to Mikey, but he wasn't there.

 _Mikey, show yourself_ , Gerard told him, still holding his little hand. _No one's gonna hurt you._

Mikey sent him an impression of a pout before popping back into view.

Julie smiled down at him. "This is your room here, do you want to meet your roommate?"

Mikey was practically shaking with nerves but Gerard comforted him.

_Come on, Mikey, you get to make new friends. I'll even ask them if you can talk to them in their heads okay? If anything goes wrong just come and find me._

Mikey hesitated then nodded.

Julie knocked on the door then pushed it open. There were two boys inside, one was chubby with orange hair and the other was small and dark and holding a tiny ball of fire while the redhead gaped.

"Pete!" Julie nearly shouted. The tiny flame flickered out as both boys jumped. "What did Alex tell you about doing that in your room?"

"But I can control it!" the tan boy cried, jumping to his feet.

"Sweetie, I know you can but you still have to wait until the instructors clear you as a safety hazard until you can play like that," Julie sighed, exasperated.

"I wasn't playing!" Pete told her sternly, putting his tiny fists on his hips. "I was practicing!"

"Enough, enough," Julie told him. "Your roommate is here, don't you want to meet him?"

Pete brightened up immediately and dropped his eyes to Mikey, who was half hiding behind Gerard's left wing.

"This is Mikey, Mikey this is Pete," Julie smiled.

Mikey didn't even blink so Gerard took it upon himself.

"Uhm, he doesn't really talk out loud," he told Julie and Pete. "Can he talk to you in your head?"

"Sure!" Pete exclaimed.

There was a brief pause while Pete stared happily at Mikey and Mikey stared back, wide-eyed.

 _Hey_ , Mikey muttered to the whole room.

"Woah!" Pete and the redheaded boy cried at once. "That's so cool!" Pete added.

"Alright," Julie said smiling at Mikey. "Mikey, we'll leave you to get situated. Pete, will you show Mikey around once he’s unpacked?"

"Sure," Pete grinned.

Julie stepped back into the hall with Ray and Brendon as Gerard knelt down to look Mikey in the eye.

 _You're gonna be fine_ , he promised his younger brother. _If you need anything you know how to find me okay? I'll be right upstairs and you can talk to me anytime._

 _Thanks, Gee,_ Mikey told him.

_Okay. Have fun._

_Bye._

_See you soon, Mikes._

Gerard stood, extending his wings a tiny bit to stabilize him, then let go of Mikey's hand and left the room.

"That brother of yours is pretty talented," Julie told him as they continued on to another staircase.

"Yeah, he is," Gerard agreed with a tiny smile. He couldn't find it in himself to be jealous of Mikey's powers when it was obvious how scared the boy was about being at school.

When they got to the next floor Gerard looked around with amazement. The kids here were older and more obviously in control of their powers than the first years. There was a girl exiting a room whose eyelashes and ends of her long black hair were crackling with blue fire. A tall thin boy was meowing at a grey cat that was sitting on his shoulder. Another boy was casually leaning against a door frame talking to a normal looking girl while twirling two marbles around in the air above his hand. Gerard spotted the lizard girl again and saw another girl with blue claws curving out from her knuckles.

 _I fit in here_ , Gerard thought to himself. _I can do this._

Julie lead them a few doors down and then stopped.

"Here's your room Gerard," she smiled, motioning to a door that had a sharpie smiley face drawn on it.

"Okay," Gerard said, clutching his suitcase harder.

"I'll come visit in a while," Ray promised him, "After I get my room."

"Alright," Gerard nodded, glad that he seemed to have already made a friend.

"I won't see you again until dinner, but get the macaroni," Brendon told him with a wide smile.

"Uh, okay. Thanks," Gerard chuckled.

Julie led Ray and Brendon away and Gerard turned to face the door marked 207.

He cautiously turned the handle and stepped inside. Gerard knew that he and Mikey were going to be some of the last students to arrive, as they had booked a later flight, so he wasn't too surprised to see that his roommate seemed to have made himself at home already.

The bed in the corner was messy and unmade, the drawers next to it were hanging open and full of clothes. There was a vintage looking action hero set on top of it and two posters tacked crookedly to the wall, one for a band and one for a horror movie.

It took Gerard a moment to notice the white feathers that littered the floor and practically every surface. He walked slowly over to his empty bed and dresser and picked a small, soft feather off his pillow.

"Sorry about that," came a laughing voice from the doorway. Gerard spun around to see a short boy with black, untidy hair standing in the door frame with a wide grin. He was naked from the waist up, with a tan and wiry muscles.

"What-?"

The boy stepped the rest of the way into the room and Gerard's mouth fell open. He had wings. Huge, white, shiny, _angel wings._

"I think they roomed us together on purpose," the angel-boy chuckled, plopping down onto his unmade bed. Gerard watched another small feather detach from his left wing and flutter down to land by his feet.

He couldn't believe it. Someone else besides him had wings. _Wings!_

"You okay?" the boy asked, raising a thin, black eyebrow.

"You have wings," Gerard gaped stupidly.

"Yup," the boy smiled. "You do too."

"I-," Gerard stuttered. "I didn't know anyone else had wings."

"Oh yeah, man, I met this one guy yesterday who can make wings for himself out of ice and like, leaves and stuff. So cool." The boy bounced on his mattress and waved his hands around as he talked.

"Uh, yeah. I just-" Gerard muttered.

"What's your name?"

"Gerard."

"I'm Frank, it's nice to meet you," the boy said, grinning.

"Nice to meet you, too."

Gerard turned and lifted his suitcase onto his bed.

"So you can fly right?" Frank asked suddenly.

Gerard turned around again. "Yeah."

"Me too," he proclaimed proudly. "Can you do anything else?"

"Not that I know of," Gerard answered with a slight twist of his mouth.

"I can do this one thing, almost-" Frank lifted a hand in front of his face and squinted at it, focusing. He snapped and nothing happened. "Wait, wait. I can totally do it, hold on."

Gerard tilted his head a bit and watched Frank's hand, thinking that maybe he was joking.

Frank snapped a few more times until there was a soft _crack!_ and a tiny explosion of bright white light about the size of a pencil tip appeared over his thumb for a split second.

"There! You saw it right?" Frank asked excitedly.

"Yeah," Gerard marveled, taking a step closer. "What was that?"

"I have no idea!" Frank laughed. "Julie said the instructors would be able to help me figure it out."

"That's really cool," Gerard chuckled.

 _I think Pete's gonna burn the school down one of these days_ , came Mikey's voice in Gerard's head.

 _Are you okay?_ Gerard asked.

 _Yeah, I'm fine. He and Patrick are nice, Pete is just really excitable and his fingers keep catching on fire_ , Mikey giggled.

 _Wow, maybe you should request a fire extinguisher for your room_ , Gerard chuckled.

 _There's already two in here_ , Mikey laughed. _So have you met your roommate yet?_

 _Yeah! His name's Frank and he's got like- angel wings!_ Gerard told his brother excitedly.

_No way! That's awesome!_

"Earth to Gerard!"

Gerard jumped and realized Frank was right in front of him, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Oh! Sorry, I was-"

 _Whoops! I’ll talk to you later!_ Mikey giggled again before withdrawing.

Gerard focused on Frank again. "My brother," he explained. "He was telling me about his roommate."

"Your brother?" Frank asked, confused.

"Yeah, uh. Downstairs, he’s roomed with some fire starter kid."

"Uh huh," Frank nodded slowly.

"Oh! Uh, he’s telepathic," Gerard added.

"Oh, okay." Frank let out a child-like giggle. "I thought you were going insane for a second!"

"No, No, sorry. He just- you know. I told him he could talk to me whenever, so..."

"I get it, that’s cool. You just like, totally spaced out." Frank giggled again and Gerard’s stomach gave a weird twist.

"Yeah," he answered awkwardly.

"So, a first year and telepathic, huh?" Frank asked.

"And he can become invisible," Gerard answered. "His name’s Mikey."

"Wow, talented kid," Frank said, impressed. He stepped away from Gerard and plopped back down onto his bed. Gerard felt like the temperature had dropped a degree or two in his absence.

"Yeah, he is," Gerard said with a tiny, bitter smile.

"I bet you have a power that you haven’t figured out yet," Frank said, tilting his head to one side.

"You think?"

"Hell yeah, I bet it’s really cool too."

Gerard grinned at his angel-roommate.


	4. In Which The Boys Have Dinner and Make Friends

Gerard had just finished unpacking his comics, which Frank had been really excited about, when there was a knock on the door frame.

It was Ray and a large boy with blond hair draping over one eye.

"Dude!" Ray cried, pointing at Frank’s wings and laughing.

"I know!" Gerard laughed back.

"You guys know each other?" Frank asked, glancing between them with a grin on his face.

"We met at the airport," Ray answered, walking into their room and sitting in one of the empty chairs next to an equally empty desk. "I’m Ray."

"I’m Frank, and I guess you already know Bob," Frank said.

"We’re roommates," the blond kid answered, leaning against the wall at the end of Frank’s bed.

"Well, this is Gerard," Frank said, pointing to the bat-winged boy on the opposite bed.

"Did they do that on purpose?" Bob asked with a twitch of his lips, glancing between them.

"That’s what I wondered," Frank answered.

"If they did, they should have given us a bigger room," Gerard joked. "What with the combined wing span and all."

Ray burst out laughing.

"Or at least a room with a balcony!" Frank giggled.

The four boys quickly fell into an easy conversation about comics, once Ray spotted Gerard's stacked on top of his dresser. Gerard took a moment to check in with Mikey by opening his mind and calling out to him like they had practiced. Mikey was glad that Gerard was hanging out with Ray because he thought the older boy was pretty cool, then he let Gerard return to the conversation.

After a while Frank asked Gerard how he got a shirt on over his wings.

"Oh, uhm." Gerard blushed, trying not to stare at Frank’s bare torso. "I cut the back up and then button them shut."

"Lemme see!" Frank demanded, jumping up to cross the room.

Gerard stood and turned around, opening his wings a bit to show Frank the lines cut into his shirt and the added buttons on the bottom.

"Ah man, I never even _thought_ of that," Frank sighed.

"You wanna try one on?" Gerard asked, embarrassed.

"Sure!"

Gerard reached into one of his drawers and pulled out a black t-shirt that was a little small on him. He undid the buttons in the back and handed it to Frank who promptly tugged it over his head. Gerard helped him get the strips of fabric in the right places then buttoned them together at the bottom.

Frank spun around excitedly, touching the fabric. His wings seemed even brighter against the dark fabric.

"This is so cool!" Frank giggled.

"Yeah," Bob chuckled, "Now we don’t have to stare at your nakedness all the time."

"Whatever Bob, you love it," Frank quipped.

"Yeah, you’re not my type lil’ birdy."

Frank stuck his tongue out and they all laughed.

.

When the sky started to get darker and the hallway became quieter, the boys all headed down to the cafeteria for dinner. Gerard was starving; he hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast with his family. He was suddenly struck by how far he had come in one day and felt a crushing weight on his stomach when he realized that he had to stay here for months and couldn’t go hide in his bedroom. Gerard tried to swallow past the anxiety as he followed Frank down to the ground floor.

The cafeteria was on the opposite end of the school and in its own building with wide windows and a high ceiling. The huge room was already full of students and it was almost overwhelmingly noisy.

"Come on!" Frank told Gerard. "Let’s get in line!"

They let Frank lead the way over to a separate room filled with food. The boys joined a queue and after a few minutes they were able to grab trays.

Gerard looked over all the food that he passed, noting the wide variety of dishes. A lot of them he didn’t even recognize so he ended up going with Brendon’s advice and grabbing a bowl of macaroni. He took a few sides and a drink then stepped aside to wait for Frank, Bob, and Ray to be done.

Frank led him over to an empty table and dropped into a metal chair that had the backrest folded back and down so that it didn’t get in the way of Frank’s wings. Frank laughed at Gerard’s expression then stood up and pointed to the seat.

**FRANK** , it said in big sharpie letters.

"This is my chair," Frank grinned, sitting back down.

Gerard pulled out a normal chair and spun it around so the backrest was against his chest and his wings were free behind him. He set his tray of food on the table as Bob and Ray slid into the booth that Frank and Gerard were sitting at the end of.

"How’d you get the back like that?" he asked Frank.

"Bob did it for me," Frank said, grinning over at the big blond boy.

"Got yelled at for it, too," Bob grumbled.

"You have my undying gratitude," Frank cheeked. Bob rolled his eyes.

Gerard picked up his fork and took a bite of his pasta, it was pretty good.

"Uhg," Frank said. "I’m glad you got that instead of that chicken thing they were serving."

"How come?"

"Watching people eat meat grosses me out," Frank told him, scrunching up his nose. "And even if I did eat meat, I'd never be able to eat something with _wings_ , you know?"

Gerard silently thanked Brendon for the tip and looked over at Frank’s tray. It was mostly vegetables.

"Yeah, I can understand that."

"Hey guys!" came a cheery shout.

They looked around to see Brendon and a skinny boy in a flowing scarf walking towards them. They slid into the other side of the booth, squeezing past Frank’s chair, and set their trays down.

"Guys, this is Brendon," Ray said to Bob and Frank. "I’m assuming Brendon already knows who you are."

"Bob and Frank!" Brendon said happily. "This is Ryan, my roomie."

"Nice to meet you guys," Frank smiled. Bob looked a little put off at Brendon knowing his name.

"Ryan," Brendon said, "This is Gerard and Ray."

"Nice to meet you," Gerard mumbled.

"Yeah," Ryan answered with a timid little smile.

The table was quiet for a moment as everyone took each other in. Gerard realized he had never been part of a weirder group of people in his life.

_They’re not weird, they’re cool_ , Mikey scolded him.

Gerard turned to see his little brother standing in line with Pete and the redheaded boy who Mikey had called Patrick.

_We don’t have room at our table_ , Gerard told him sadly.

_It’s okay, I’m gonna sit with Pete and his friends_ , Mikey answered with a hint of a grin.

_Alright, but sit with me tomorrow for breakfast, okay?_

_Okay._

"Can I talk to him?"

Gerard blinked and looked around his table. Everyone was staring at him and Frank was grinning.

"Can I talk to Mikey?" Frank repeated. "That’s what you were just doing right?"

"Uh, yeah," Gerard answered. "Let me ask-"

_Yeah, it’s cool. I wanna meet your roommate anyway. I can see his wings from over here!_ Mikey said in a rush.

"He said yeah," Gerard told Frank. "Just give him a second to find you."

Gerard could tell the second Mikey started talking to Frank. His eyebrows shot up and his face cracked into a wide smile.

"Mikey’s telepathic and can go invisible," Brendon was explaining to Bob and Ryan, who had been looking confused. Ray was eating his macaroni with a smile.

Gerard focused on Frank’s face while he talked to Mikey. He watched Frank’s eyes glaze over a bit and his face slacken. He kept moving his lips the slightest amount, almost forming the words he was saying in his head. Gerard couldn’t help but notice how cute Frank was, especially when he was happily talking to Mikey and wearing Gerard’s shirt. He blushed and focused on his food.

"Ooooh," Brendon suddenly sighed.

"What?" Bob asked, furrowing his brow.

Brendon laughed, loudly, and clapped his hands. "Nothing! I can’t say or it’ll screw it up!"

Ryan touched two fingers from his left hand to Brendon’s wrist and suddenly was giggling too.

"Right?" Brendon laughed.

"Yeah, definitely,” Ryan answered.

"That’s going to get annoying real quick," Bob said quietly, leaning over to mutter to Ray, who was laughing openly at all his new friends.

Frank suddenly blinked and seemed to come back to them.

_I like him_ , Mikey informed Gerard as he sat at a table with his own friends across the large cafeteria.

_Why’d you block me out of the conversation_? Gerard asked, a little annoyed.

_‘Cuz, none of your business. I can talk to people without your input._

_Mikey!_

_I’m kidding, Gerard. I dunno, I just didn’t think about it. I’m gonna eat now, okay?_

Gerard sighed. _Yeah, alright._

"He’s a neat kid," Frank told him as soon as he blinked back to the table.

"Yeah he is, even if he’s a little brat sometimes," Gerard mumbled, going back to his food.

"So, hey," Ray announced. "Classes don’t start for another two days, we should do something tonight."

"Yeah!" Brendon agreed.

"What is there to do here?" Gerard asked, automatically looking to Frank.

"Gabe and William have people over to their room most nights," Frank offered up.

"Uhg," Bob groaned.

"What?" Ray asked.

"Gabe and William? _Really_ , Frank?" Bob asked, making a face.

"What’s wrong with them?" Gerard asked.

Frank rolled his eyes. "They think they’re hot shit because of what they can do and the fact that they’re upperclassman. Apparently they went to this other academy in Europe and got really good at their abilities but when Schechter's opened Gabe's parents wanted him closer to home, so William came with him."

"How do you know all that?" Ray asked, his eyes wide.

" _Everyone_ knows _everything_ about them and they’ve only been here a week," Bob grumbled. "And they're on a quest to know everything about everyone else, too."

"What can they do?" Ryan wondered.

"Gabe’s got Power Detection and Will’s got- what’d they call it?" Frank turned to Bob.

"Peak Human State," Bob answered, burying his face in his hands.

"Right, right," Frank grinned, turning back to the others. "So Gabe can tell what like, _anyone’s_ powers are, and William is like, _perfect_ ," he stated smugly.

"Sounds like they have a reason to think they’re hot shit," Ray said with a grin.

"No," Bob groaned. "You don’t even understand. They’re so _pretentious_. It’s _annoying_."

"Well, then, you don’t have to come," Frank answered, lifting his chin, his wing tips quivering a bit.

"Yeah," Bob laughed sarcastically. "And let you go off and get in trouble little bird? I don’t think so."

"Awesome," Frank grinned. "You guys in?"

Gerard looked around at Ray, Brendon, and Ryan.

"I’m in."


	5. In Which The Boys Fly and Attend A Party

Frank told the guys to meet at his and Gerard’s room later so they could head upstairs together, then everyone went their separate ways.

Gerard sighed as he and Frank made their way back to their room.

"What’s up?" Frank asked.

Gerard’s mouth twisted a bit. "My wings ache. They’ve been scrunched up all day and it sucks."

Frank smiled wide. "Let’s go to the gym and you can stretch them out!" Frank dragged Gerard off in the opposite direction and kept talking. "We’re not supposed to go outside at night except for the kids who like, get their powers from the moon or whatever," he glanced back to roll his eyes. "But the gym is always open and it’s huge."

They made their way back towards the cafeteria then took a sharp right into a small hall that lead to another outbuilding. As they approached the wide set doorway, Gerard could hear the sound of rubber screeching against waxed floors, a sound that brought him back to his old high school gym.

"There’s people in there," Gerard hissed as Frank continued to drag him forward.

"Well, yeah," Frank laughed. He pulled Gerard through the large double doors and into a giant, brightly lit cavern of a room.

"Wow," Gerard gasped.

"It’s split into four parts," Frank explained, watching Gerard’s face as he looked around. "This room’s got the track and the gymnastics stuff."

There was indeed a track set in the hardwood flooring, traveling the entire way around the room. In the center was a multitude of beams and boards and blocks that made no sense to Gerard until he watched a stick-thin boy run, jump, and swing around and around one of the beams.

"Over there, through that archway, are the pools," Frank added, pointing to the far right of the room. "But I don’t really ever go in there, except to pass through. I hate getting my feathers wet. It’s a bitch to dry them out again."

Gerard chuckled and nodded. He could understand that.

"Right over here through this arch is the weights and weapons and stuff. I don’t go in there either," Frank giggled, pinching at the slender bicep on his left arm. "That’s for the super strong kids, you know? Like Bob."

"Right," Gerard agreed absently.

"We want the fourth room. Come on, I’ll show you!"

Frank grabbed Gerard’s hand again and started dragging him forward along the track, that was currently empty, and passed the gymnastic equipment.

"Is that my little Frank Iero?" came a fluid voice from amidst the jungle of beams and bars.

"Oh, you get to meet Gabe!" Frank told Gerard softly before calling out. "Yeah, it’s me!"

A frighteningly tall boy appeared atop a huge stack of foam blocks and smiled down at them.

"And another beautiful winged creature, I see!" he sighed happily before jumping carefully down to land in front of the pair.

"This is Gerard, I’m showing him around," Frank grinned.

"Gerard, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance," said Gabe. He was a full head taller than Gerard, with dark tanned skin and shining bright white teeth. He reached his hand out and Gerard took it and shook timidly. Gabe’s face fell into a slight frown for a moment before he fixed his smile back.

"What are you doing out here so late?" Frank asked Gabe, still clutching Gerard’s left hand.

"Oh," Gabe sighed contentedly. "I was watching William." He turned and gestured smoothly towards the thin boy on the bars, swinging around and flipping over and over, contorting his body into weird shapes.

"Cool," Gerard muttered.

"Isn’t he?" Gabe agreed dreamily.

"Are you having people over tonight?" Frank asked, bouncing on his toes.

"Oh yes, later on. You’ll be there, of course?"

"Yeah, and I’m bringing some of my new friends. You’ll like Brendon and Ray for sure."

"I can’t wait to meet them," Gabe smirked down at Frank.

"Well, we should go," Frank said. "We’ll see you later."

"See you around my little angel," Gabe chuckled. He turned back to watch William as Frank dragged Gerard away.

"Told you he was cool," Frank grinned. "Bob doesn’t know what he’s talking about."

"Uh, yeah," Gerard agreed, because he was obviously supposed to.

They entered the pool room and it was nothing like what Gerard had expected. Instead of a plain, square swimming pool, there was a labyrinth of smaller organically shaped pools with twisted water pathways connecting them. There was a man made waterfall cascading from 30 feet up on one wall and a line of hot tubs against the opposite wall.

"Dude, this place," Gerard said in amazement.

"I know," Frank giggled. He pulled on Gerard’s hand again and led him toward another arch.

This room was the best, by far. There were ladders climbing all the way up the walls, at least 50 feet, and balconies connected to them. The floor was padded and had large trampolines set into the floor at random intervals. In the center of the room was a colossal jungle gym type structure with ladders, bars, balconies and nets.

Gerard was speechless. Frank giggled again. He dropped Gerard’s hand and began racing over to the nearest wall mounted ladder.

"Come on, Gerard! Time to stretch your wings!"

Gerard watched Frank climb for a moment before turning his attention to a stout, green haired girl that was bouncing on one of the trampolines. When she got to the height of her jump she would _twist_ , then just hang in midair for longer than normally possible before falling gracefully back to the trampoline.

"Gerard!" came Frank’s yell from high above him. He looked up.

Frank was standing on a wall mounted balcony about 30 feet up. He looked extra small at that height, but his wings were outstretched for the first time since Gerard had met him and he was in awe. Frank tucked his arms to his chest before leaping off the ledge. His wings closed around his small frame as he dropped then snapped out to catch against the air. He flapped a few times until he was higher up and began circling around the ceiling and slowly descending. Suddenly he tucked his wings and dove toward Gerard, snapping them out at the last moment to hover just above Gerard, buffeting him with wind as he beat his wings.

"Hey!" Gerard yelled, putting his hands up to protect his eyes.

"Come on up!" Frank cried, pushing away and soaring up towards the ceiling again.

Gerard grinned then rushed over to the ladder that Frank had climbed.

It was great to finally fly after so long. Gerard and Frank circled each other a few times before Frank started doing loop-de-loops and dives. Gerard hovered near the ceiling, beating his wings, and watched the small boy's aerial acrobatics for a while with a smile on his face.

.

Without even trying, Gerard had gained a group of friends. He figured that Mikey would be the one to make a ton of friends while he lurked in the back of the room by himself, but that wasn't the case.

Gerard and Frank were surrounded by girls in Gabe and William's room who thought their wings were the coolest thing. They kept asking to touch the leathery skin of Gerard's wings, and after blushing and refusing for a while, he finally gave in. A girl with lightly tinted purple skin reached out and ran her fingers over a small piece of his wing, shrieking at the feel of it.

"That's so cool!" they all said.

"Can you fly?" they all asked.

Gerard was overcome with the attention. Frank noticed after Gerard gave him a look, so he began calling the attention on himself, and a few minutes later Gerard excused himself. He maneuvered through the crowded room that was larger than his and Frank's and packed to the brim with people. Brendon was standing against a wall talking to Ryan and Gabe, so Gerard headed over.

"Gerard!" cried Brendon happily over the music, waving him over.

"Hey," Gerard said, allowing himself to be pulled into the small circle.

Gabe opened his mouth, about to say something, when Ryan cut him off.

"You don't like parties?" he asked gently.

"Uhm," Gerard muttered uneasily.

Gabe smiled at him. "Ryan's an Empath, he can read and manipulate emotions."

"Oh."

"You're nervous," Ryan said shyly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Gerard lied pointlessly.

"Come now, Gerard," indulged Gabe. "Tell us what's wrong."

"Just- I'm not used to the attention," Gerard admitted, motioning over to where Frank was still surrounded by awestruck girls. He noticed Bob standing close by, scowling at the group.

"Everybody loves a boy with wings," Gabe trilled. "You must admit, they're fascinating."

"I guess so?"

Gabe laughed lightly and wound his long, thin fingers around Gerard's wrist. "I want you to meet a few people. If you boys will excuse us?" he added, looking between Brendon and Ryan with raised eyebrows. Gabe waited for their assent before dragging Gerard away, through the room, and over to some other upperclassmen.

"Gentlemen, lady, may I introduce Gerard?" Gabe said musically.

"William," smiled the tall, thin boy from the gym. He reached out a pale hand and shook Gerard's gently.

"And this is Travis," introduced Gabe, motioning to a boy with dark skin and hair big enough to rival Ray's. "The lovely Victoria," a gorgeous girl with chocolate colored hair and rose colored skin. "And Jepha," a muscled boy with tattoos and oddly cut hair.

"It's nice to meet you all," Gerard said shyly, shaking their hands.

Gabe began detailing Gerard and Gerard's friends, including their abilities, to the older group, but Gerard got distracted.

_Hey_ , said Mikey. His voice was softer than usual.

_Hey, everything okay?_ Gerard asked.

_Yeah, tired. Everyone on this floor is going to bed. What are you doing? There's so much noise in your head._

_I'm at a... party, I guess. With some older kids. Frank brought me._ Gerard admitted.

_Oh_ , Mikey whined. _I want to go._

_I don't think you'd like this crowd, they're pretty intense. I'm not really enjoying myself to be honest._

_Then why don't you leave?_ Mikey asked, his voice getting even softer.

Gerard didn't want to admit that leaving meant being away from Frank, and the idea made him frown.

_Loser_ , Mikey chuckled. _You've already got a crush._

_Have not!_

_Uh huh, okay. Well, I'm going to bed. I'll see you at breakfast._

_I haven't got a crush!_

_Good night!_

_...Night._

Gerard blinked and realized that, once again, everyone was looking at him.

"Sorry, I-"

"Who were you just talking to?" Gabe asked slyly.

Gerard suddenly realized that Gabe's hand was resting on the back of his neck. He flinched away from his touch.

"Oh, uh. My little brother," Gerard admitted.

"A telepath, huh? And something else...?"

"Invisibility," Gerard told him with a smile.

"Well, well, well," laughed William, raising his eyebrows at Gabe.

"Very skilled," he agreed. "And younger than you, you mentioned. How old is the little prodigy?"

"Eleven," Gerard supplied.

"My goodness. You must introduce us one of these days," Gabe smiled.

"Uh, sure.

"So, Gerard," interrupted Travis. "You just got here today, right? What do you think of the school?"

"It's, uh, big." Gerard blushed. "And insane. I've never seen anything like it. The gym is really cool."

"Indeed," added Gabe. "I met Gerard in the gym while he and young Frank Iero were on their way to the flight room."

"I'd love to see you fly someday Gerard," smiled Victoria.

"Yes, let us know when you have your first lesson and we'll swing by," added Gabe.

"I'm going to have a class on flying?" Gerard asked.

"Haven't you looked at your schedule?" asked Jepha, the tattooed boy.

"No, not yet."

"Well," began William. "I'm not sure how they do things here, what with this being the school's first year, but at the academy in France there were classes specializing in each student's specific ability. I believe the classes here, since this school is significantly smaller, will be based on ability grouping. Do you have any powers beyond Wing Manifestation?"

"Uh... what?" Gerard stumbled.

Gabe answered for him. "I can feel something there, you know?" He reached out and touched Gerard's arm. "Something beyond the wings, but it's buried deep. You'll have to work hard to discover it."

"Wait," said Gerard, startled. "Are you saying I've got a real power?"

The cluster of older students chuckled at him.

"Well, of course!" Gabe laughed. "Just like little Frankie over there, you've got a latent ability that I believe relates to your body's choice of Wing Manifestation."

Gerard was stunned. Before he had the chance to say anything though, Brendon appeared, with Ryan on his tail, at Gerard's shoulder.

"Hey Gerard, you should head back to your room soon or else you'll wake up late for breakfast and Mikey will get mad at you."

"Oh, uh. Okay, thanks." Gerard turned back to Gabe and his friends. "It was nice meeting you all, thanks for having me over."

"Anytime, my dear Gerard," smiled Gabe.

Gerard walked away with Brendon to go find Frank. He found him standing where he had left him, still surrounded by at least five girls.

"Hey, Frank, we're heading out. Are you gonna stay?"

Frank's eyes flicked up to Gerard's and he grinned. "Nah, I'll come with you." He said goodnight to the circle of girls that were fawning over him and followed Gerard away. Bob snagged Ray on their way out the door and the group of friends descended the staircases together.


	6. In Which The Boys Talk Classes

Gerard took a moment before he got into bed to open the folder he had been given that afternoon.

Some of his classes were normal things he had taken in high school, like Geometry, History, Biology, English, and Drawing I. But others, Weather and Wind Patterns, Beginner's Physics, Meditation, Combat 101, and Flight, made Gerard raise his eyebrows.

"Did you look at your classes yet?" Gerard asked Frank over his shoulder and wing.

"Yeah, lemme see yours," Frank said, bounding out of their tiny bathroom, already in pajama pants and bare chested.

Gerard handed the paper over and watched Frank skim the class list.

"We've got Flight, Weather and Wind Patterns, Meditation, and Math together. Awesome!" Frank exclaimed.

"Really? Nice." Gerard took the paper back and looked down at it again. "What's with Combat 101?"

"I guess everyone has to take it?" Frank said, sitting on the edge of his own bed. "For the kids that don't have combat as a power, just so that we can defend ourselves or something. Or to see if maybe we do have combat as a latent ability."

"Weird." Gerard thought about telling Frank that Gabe had said he had a latent ability, but decided to wait and see if he actually did before he started getting too excited.

Gerard put his class list back in the folder and set it on top of his dresser. He looked over to see that Frank was already in bed, laying flat on his stomach with his feathery wings nestled on top of him.

"’Night, Gerard," Frank yawned.

"’Night, Frank," Gerard said back, grinning to himself. He went into the small bathroom to change and brush his teeth, then climbed into bed. He laid on his side, facing the wall, and let his wings stretch straight out behind him, settling on the floor. Gerard tugged his blanket up around him and drifted off to sleep.

.

The next morning at breakfast Gerard asked everyone else about their classes. Mikey, who was sitting next to Bob in their booth, told everyone that he was taking Stealth, Ethics, and Power Control. Ray was taking a class on Ethics, World Languages, and Engineering. Bob was going to be in Gerard's Physics class and also had a class on construction and demolition. Brendon, who was sitting on the table and leaning against the window behind him, reported that he had to take a class on Power Control, Meditation, and another class that Gerard didn't understand his explanation of. When Ryan was asked, he simply shrugged and said "Ethics and stuff."

"How come Gerard and I are the only ones not taking Ethics?" Frank asked around a spoonful of fruit.

"I don't think you they expect you guys to get into too much trouble by flying around," Bob answered.

"So the rest of you have to learn the difference between right and wrong just because of your powers?" Gerard asked, appalled.

"I guess they want to make sure we don't abuse it?" Ray mused.

"Hmph."

.

After lunch Frank demanded that they all go out and enjoy one of the last nice days of summer.

"We're not allowed to leave the grounds, but this place is huge," he told Gerard excitedly.

Mikey paused at the door and told them he'd catch up after Pete and Patrick were done eating, then flickered out of sight as he walked away.

Frank, Gerard, Brendon, Bob, Ryan, and Ray exited the cafeteria through a large metal door. On the other side of it was a walled-in courtyard filled with benches, trees, students, and the sound of running water.

"There are fountains all over the place," Frank told them as he led them down a brick walkway and passed a girl sitting by herself, manipulating a ball of water in her hands.

They continued to walk, eventually making their way out of the courtyard through a large brick archway and into a giant field.

"There's a forested section over there," Bob pointed. "And a huge lake on the other side of that hill. The stables are around here," he pointed to the far side of the field where they could see the large wooden building.

Gerard was in awe, again, of this school. This place was like a dream come true for mutated kids and he wanted desperately to take off and circle high above it all. Frank seemed to know what he was thinking.

"Technically, we're not supposed to fly out here. We're only allowed to fly in the gym for now until we have classes outside or our instructors clear us," he said, kicking his foot into a tuft of grass.

"How come?"

"Safety stuff, I guess. It's to keep us from experimenting and doing risky stuff to impress other students."

"How do you know that?" Ray asked.

"I met the Flight instructor a few days ago," Frank answered with a little smile. "He's pretty cool," he added for Gerard.

Frank led them over to the edge of the wooded portion of the grounds and climbed onto a stump so he could sit with his wings out behind him. The rest of them sat on the ground in a loose circle and started up a conversation about old-school comics.

Gerard stretched his wings out behind him as far as they would go, then lifted up, stretching out his cramped muscles. He could feel the muscles in his back pulling and stretching. Frank beamed at him from his low perch.

Some time passed while Gerard watched the shadows move across the grass, occasionally glancing up to watch as Frank talked. Eventually he rolled over onto his stomach and spread his wings out over the grass. It felt nice to lie in the sun and listen to his new friends chat about movies and music. He could feel the heat seeping into the black skin of his wings, warming him. 

His basement bedroom back home hadn't been cold, exactly, but he hadn't really gotten out of the house that much. But here, here he could unfurl his wings without having to worry about anyone staring or making vampire bat jokes. It felt nice.

A little while later Gerard felt Mikey poke into his mind, telling him that he was looking for him. Gerard told him where he was and Mikey headed over.

"Mikey's coming," he announced, sitting up and looking around.

When Mikey eventually found them, he was accompanied by Pete, Patrick, and two other boys Gerard hadn't met yet.

"I’m Pete, and this is Patrick," Pete said to the older students, "and Joe and Andy."

The four boys sat clustered together with Gerard's friends and joined in on the conversation about horror movies that had been going on. Gerard opened his mind to Mikey and they shared their thoughts from the past 24 hours.

Joe can do stuff with water, Mikey told him excitedly, and Patrick can heal wounds I guess? And Andy can like- control plants.

That sounds really cool. Did Pete introduce you to them? Gerard asked.

Yeah, he's been here for over a week already and he knows almost all the kids on our floor. Mikey smirked at him from across the circle of chatting boys. He's really cool. He doesn't mind me being in his head all the time.

I'm glad you have someone to talk to, Gerard smiled back.

So, tell me about the party, Mikey suggested.

Gerard thought back to the night before. The press of other people around him, the hot air, the buzz of conversation, the anxiety of being the center of attention.

I always knew you were cool, Mikey grinned. Everyone else thinks so too.

Gerard blushed a little and Frank caught his eye from his perch on the stump. He grinned widely at him and Gerard's blush deepened.

Frank thinks you're cool, Mikey added slyly.

Shut up, Mikey.

.

The afternoon passed slowly and lazily. They all tried to enjoy their last day of freedom before classes started.

That night Gerard sat in bed looking over the folder with his name on it. Most of the rules were obvious things like don't use your powers against any member of staff or student body, so Gerard flipped over to the school map. The little lines on the paper couldn't convey the sheer size of the school or how incredible each room was. The gym was a large square divided into four smaller squares that were labeled as track/gym, weight/weapon, pool, and flight.

Gerard checked his class list again and began marking out a route on the map for each day.

Tomorrow, Monday, he had Meditation, Flight and Combat 101. Tuesday he had Drawing I, Math and History. Wednesday was Meditation, Flight, and Biology. Thursday he had two double lessons of Weather and Wind Patterns and Beginner's Physics and on Friday he had Biology, Math, and History.

Frank appeared next to him and looked over his shoulder.

"Thursday's gonna suck," he said casually.

Gerard looked up and almost swallowed his tongue. Frank was dripping wet with a towel wrapped around his waist and another in his hair, scrubbing it dry. Gerard ducked his head down to look at his list and hide the dark blush on his face.

"Yeah," Gerard muttered, drawing a green line from one class to another down the hallway on his map.

Frank walked over to his dresser to grab a pair of sweatpants then disappeared into their tiny bathroom. Gerard let out a deep breath. Why did he have to get roomed with such a cute, nice, funny guy with wings. Was the universe testing him?

Gerard set his schedule and map on the dresser next to his bed then rolled onto his stomach, letting his wings fall to the sides. After a few minutes Frank walked back into the room, dry and wearing sweatpants.

“Where did you take a shower?” Gerard asked.

“Down the hall,” Frank said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

“I thought you didn’t like getting your wings wet?”

Frank grinned. “I open them up all the way so they stay out from under the spray. They’ve got a few shower stalls that are bigger than the others, so I use those.”

“I’ll have to try that tomorrow,” Gerard yawned. The last thing he heard before falling asleep was Frank giggling.


	7. In Which The Boys Attend Classes

Gerard was nervous as he went down to breakfast the next morning. Frank had already told him to calm down at least four times, but he just couldn’t settle his nerves. They started classes that day and he had no idea what he was in for.

“Well, at least we have Mediation first thing, huh?” Frank said, smiling as they got in line for breakfast.

“Yeah, I guess.” Gerard grabbed a bowl of cereal, a carton of milk, and an orange then stepped out of line. They made their way over to their table where Brendon and Ryan were already sitting and muttering to one another.

“Hey guys,” Frank greeted them loudly. They broke apart with a jump and said good morning to Frank and Gerard.

“So, what’s your first class?” Ryan asked them as they settled into their chairs, Gerard spinning his around so his wings were free behind him.

“Meditation,” Gerard and Frank answered together. Brendon and Ryan exchanged a smirk.

“What? What was that?” Gerard asked, looking between them.

“Nothing,” the two of them answered together. Gerard glared at them but let it go.

“What about you?” Frank asked. “What do you have first?”

Gerard focused on peeling his orange as the others talked about classes, only looking up to greet Ray and Bob as they appeared. After a while Frank poked him in the elbow.

“Hey, come on. Classes are gonna be great.”

Gerard couldn’t help but smile when Frank smiled. It made him feel a little better.

.

Their Mediation class was on the third floor on the opposite side of the school from the students’ bedrooms. Frank was so excited to get there he was practically skipping, while Gerard was dragging his feet.

“We’re gonna be super early,” he complained. They had left breakfast before anyone else because Frank couldn’t sit still.

“Whatever, we’ll get good seats,” Frank countered with a grin.

“Good seats for mediation?”

“Yes,” Frank laughed. “Oh, here it is.”

Frank pushed the door open and stepped inside, pulling Gerard by his elbow, and looked around. 

There was a desk at the front of the room where their teacher was seated, but Gerard’s eyes were pulled to the rest of the classroom. The walls were draped with dark colored blankets, the lights were tinted red, and instead of desks there were a dozen overstuffed red pillows on the floor.

“Good morning, boys!”

Gerard jumped, having already forgotten about the teacher. He looked over at him as he stood to greet them. He was tall and imposing, but he had a soft smile on his face. His hair was dark brown and hanging passed his ears, his eyes were bright green.

“Good morning Mr. uhm...” Frank said.

“Thompson,” he said with a smile.

“Mr. Thompson,” Frank answered. “I’m Frank, this is Gerard.”

“It’s nice to meet you, why don’t you two take a seat,” he said, gesturing at the pillows.

Gerard moved forward to pick a pillow, but Frank held his spot.

“Um, Mr. Thompson? I can’t sit on the floor,” he admitted. “‘cause of my wings.”

“Oh, of course, of course. Let’s see...”

Mr. Thompson looked around the classroom for a moment before clapping his hands together and making his way through the pillows and over to the far wall. He pushed one of the hanging blankets aside to reveal a door. Inside was a closet with spare desks and chairs. Mr. Thompson dragged out two desks and pulled them to the back of the classroom while Gerard and Frank watched curiously. He set the two desks together lengthwise, picked a pillow off the floor, set it atop the desks and grinned, spreading his arms out as if to showcase the set up.

“There we go,” he said with a wide smile.

Frank was smiling now too. “Awesome,” he said as he walked over to the desks. Mr. Thompson held out his hand and helped Frank climb up and settle on the elevated pillow. Frank crossed his legs and smiled. His wings were still brushing the floor, but he could sit comfortably without worrying about them.

“Nice,” Gerard chuckled.

“I pride myself on my problem solving abilities,” Mr. Thompson answered with a chuckle, making his way back to his desk.

Gerard picked his way to the back corner of the classroom where Frank sat and picked the pillow on the floor right next to him. He opened his wings behind him and let them settle, crumpled, on the floor. Frank grinned widely down at him.

Over the course of the next ten minutes the rest of the class arrived. Most of them looked perfectly normal on the outside, but a few of them had visible mutations. Gerard couldn’t help but to look longer than necessary at one boy with dark brown fur covering his entire body and a girl with small blue-green gills on the side of her neck.

When every student was seated on a pillow, Mr. Thompson stood and walked around to the front of his desk. He slid a larger, dark blue pillow out from under his desk and sat on it, facing the students.

“Welcome to Mediation. I’m Mr. Thompson and I’ll be your instructor,” he greeted them with a soft smile. “You may be wondering why this class exists. Well, let me explain.”

Frank shifted on his pillow, his wings fluttering open a few inches. A small, soft feather landed on Gerard’s knee and he smiled.

“The point of this class,” Mr. Thompson continued, “Is to achieve a state of calm that will allow you to focus your mind on your abilities and learn more about them. Some of you may have latent abilities, or aspects of your powers that you have yet to discover. For instance, if you have the ability to manipulate water, perhaps you have the ability to manipulate the water flowing through plants and you have yet to discover it. Maybe you can breathe under water, or alter its state, turning it into ice or mist? Maybe someday you’ll be able to manipulate the weather. There are all sorts of factors within each ability that you’ll have to work to discover.”

The class was muttering among itself now, each student excited about having extra powers.

“Now, don’t get too excited,” Mr. Thompson said, raising his voice. “It’s very possible that some of you will not have undiscovered abilities. The point of this class is to find out.”

He went on to instruct the class on the proper way of sitting while meditating, like where to place your hands and how to set your shoulders. By the time everyone had the position right, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

“I’ll see you again on Wednesday, and then we will start with the actual mediation. Until then, practice your sitting position please!” Mr. Thompson called over their heads as the students filed out.

Gerard stood, using his wings to keep him steady, and grabbed Frank’s elbow to stabilize him as he jumped off his desks.

“So awesome,” Frank told Gerard as they made their way down the crowded hallway towards the gym. “I can’t wait to figure out what my thing is.” He snapped his fingers a few times, trying to get the bright light to appear again, but couldn’t. He sighed. “Maybe you’ll find something too,” he said, grinning at Gerard.

“Yeah, maybe,” he agreed, guiding a distracted Frank, who was still snapping his fingers, through the mass of students by his elbow. “I hope so,” he added, smiling over at Frank.

The Gym was full of students when they walked through the large doors. Gerard resisted the urge to pull his wings around his shoulders and hide as Frank dragged him passed the Track and through the Pool room. Gerard was horrendously nervous about flying in front of other people but he didn’t even get a chance to take a deep breath in the archway before Frank pulled him through and towards a group of ten other students and a male teacher.

Frank only let go of his wrist when they were standing next to the group. He smiled up at Gerard and Gerard wanted to throw up.

“Welcome!” cried the teacher, spreading his arms wide. “Welcome to flight class! My name is Mr. Stevens and I’ll be your instructor.”

Mr. Stevens had blonde hair curled tight against his head and bright blue eyes. His skin was shiny, like the surface of a pearl. Every small movement he made caused his skin to shimmer. Gerard was slightly jealous.

“Now, you might be curious as to why you need to take this class. All of you already know how to fly, correct?”

There was a general mumbling of assent. Mr. Stevens nodded.

“This class is to teach you the proper way to take off, fly, land, and maneuver through the air. You’ll also strengthen your ability through practice and exercise.” He smiled widely at the class, his teeth bright white. “I’d like to go around the room, first off, and have everyone introduce themselves and talk about how they’re able to achieve flight. Why don’t we start right here.”  
Mr. Stevens motioned towards a well built boy standing next to him.

The boy cleared his throat. “Um, I’m Tommy, and uh, I can use elemental stuff to make wings.”

“Could you explain a little further?” Mr. Stevens asked nicely.

“Like, I can make wings out of ice or dirt or fire. But I don’t usually do the fire one because, you know. It’s hot.”

The class chuckled and Mr. Stevens grinned. “Alright, next....”

Gerard listened to the other students as they said their names and abilities. One girl could levitate, another could manipulate the air around her. One boy could jump to extreme heights. When it was Frank’s turn, he grinned.

“I’m Frank and I’ve got wings,” Frank giggled, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at one of his feathery, white wings. The class laughed with him.

“Uhm, I’m Gerard and, you know, same,” Gerard mumbled, blushing. Frank knocked their arms together gently, smiling at him. Gerard cracked a tiny smile.

The last few students introduced themselves and then Mr. Stevens called their attention back to him.

“There’s about thirty minutes of class left, so I’d like to go over some rules and in our next class we can get to the good stuff.” He smiled at them all again, his skin shimmering.

He talked to them about the obvious dangers of flying and how they were all responsible for their own and each other’s safety while in class. He told them that if he was ever late to class he expected them all to stay on the ground until he arrived. After telling them how to get to the hospital wing and all about his emergency procedures, he released the class a few minutes before the bell rang.

“He’s pretty cool,” Gerard admitted as they left the Flight room.

“Yeah, I can’t wait for our next class,” agreed Frank.

.

Lunch was crowded and noisy so Gerard extended his wings out a bit to cut off the sound from behind him. He sat with his friends and they all discussed their first classes. Brendon and Ray already had homework, but the rest of them had gotten lucky.

When the bell rang, Frank wished Gerard luck in his first Combat class before he skipped off to enjoy his first free period. Gerard nervously headed back to the gym.


	8. In Which There Are Introductions, Swords, and Arrows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Writer Gods blessed me with a beta that has awesomely varied interests. Everything from Spanish and Archery to Life-Guarding and Horses. I <3 Mikki.

Gerard felt incredibly lonely as he walked into the only part of the gym he hadn’t seen yet. He peeked through the archway before stepping through. The giant room was filled with all sorts of weights and exercise equipment as well as an entire wall decorated with every weapon Gerard could imagine, and several that he had never seen before.

There was no one else in the room, so Gerard started looking around, eyeing the sharp blades and heavy machines. He didn’t think he was going to like this class.

Four boys walked in a moment later and Gerard hunched his wings around his shoulders a little. He wished he had a friend in this class. He wondered how Mikey was doing on his first day and why he hadn’t talked to him yet.

The boys who had appeared didn’t seem to notice Gerard as he sulked in the corner, but Gerard watched them laughing and shoving each other. He wished Frank was in this class with him.

_Boo!_

_Ah, Mikey! What the fuck?_ Gerard tried not to flinch too noticeably.

 _What’s going on?_ Mikey asked brightly.

_Nothing, waiting for my combat class to start. You?_

_I’m on my way to Ethics with Pete. What are those guys doing?_

Gerard focused on what he was looking at. _Playing around with the weapons they have in here. This class is going to be stupid, I don’t want to take it._ He turned away from the boys and stared at the floor.

_Gotta learn to defend yourself, Gee._

_Why bother, when I can just fly away from any threat?_

_Hm... good point. But still, you gotta take the class._

_Yeah, I guess you’re-_ "OOF!"

Gerard was suddenly on the floor, crushed under the weight of someone else. He opened his eyes to see a sword, stuck in the wall, quivering. Right where his head had just been.

“Hey, Gerard, you alright?”

Gerard struggled to get out from under-

“Brendon?”

The boy stood up and helped Gerard to his feet. “Yeah, hey.”

The four other boys who had been playing with weapons were suddenly upon them.

“Oh God, _I’m so sorry._ Are you okay?” asked one of them, hands out like he wanted to physically check Gerard for wounds.

“I’m- I’m fine. What the heck happened?” Gerard said, looking around at the sword. One of his wings was starting to ache from getting crushed underneath him.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry,” the boy apologized again. He had long scraggly black hair and his face was creased up in concern. “We were just messing around, you know? Dan was trying to show me something with the sword and-”

“And it would’ve killed you,” finished Brendon, breathing heavy. He made a sharp movement with his hand. “Right through the head. It was pretty gruesome. My teacher’s pretty pissed that I just bolted but I didn’t have any time to explain you know? I just barely got here. But-” he looked at the ceiling for a second, scrunching up his face, “I’m not going to get detention once I explain. So it’s all cool.”

“Wow, holy shit. Brendon. _Thank you,_ ” Gerard was starting to feel nauseous as the weight of the situation hit him.

“You,” the long-haired boy said. “Wait, what?”

Brendon turned to him with a grin on his face. “Hi! I’m Brendon, I can see the future. You’re Bert, right?”

“Uh, yeah.” He turned to motion to the other boys behind him. “This is Quinn, Jepha, and Dan.”

“We met at Gabe’s party,” Jepha said, fixing Gerard with a look on concern. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”

_Seriously what the shit! Why would you even block me out like that right in the middle of a conver- Oh. Oh, hey. What’s going on? Are you okay?_

Gerard looked from the sword to Bert and his friends to Brendon, and suddenly Mikey was screaming obscenities in his head. Gerard almost covered his ears in a futile attempt to block his brother out. He had to yell over him to be heard, assuring him that he was fine and he’d talk to him later, but right now he needed to concentrate. Mikey faded into the background of his thoughts, but Gerard could still feel him there. Eavesdropping. He decided not to push it.

“No, no, he’s talking to his telepathic brother,” Brendon was assuring Bert and his friends. Bert looked really upset.

“I’m sorry. I’m fine. Mikey got all-” he made a strange motion with his hand. “He flipped out, but it’s fine.”

Bert flailed his hands around a bit. “Good, I thought I broke you or something. Are you sure you’re okay? I could take you to the nurse?”

“He’s fine,” Brendon cut in. “And I gotta go, your teacher’s almost here. You should put the sword back before he sees. Anyway, see you at dinner Gerard!”

Brendon skipped off as Jepha tugged the sword from the wall. He crossed the room to put it back on its rack.

“So, hey,” Bert said, looking at Gerard. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Gerard smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. Um, it’s nice to meet you.”

Bert returned his smile, a little bashfully. “Nice to meet you too. I like your wings, by the way.”

Gerard blushed just as the teacher jogged into the gym.

“Sorry! Sorry! I’m late, I know. I had to take Jimmy to the nurse, poor kid. What are we doing?” The man looked around at his five students, then down at a clipboard in his hands. “Ah! Combat 101, of course. Why don’t you all come sit over here with me, and we’ll have a little chat.”

Gerard, Bert, Jepha, Quinn, and Dan all crossed the gym to sit in a semicircle in front of the teacher. The man was well built and white, with tan lines around the sleeves of his tank top. He had dark eyes and even darker hair, but a shiny white smile.

“Alright, I’m Mr. Green. This class is to teach you how to defend yourself in a multitude of ways. My list says we have three combat specialists in this class, so why don’t we just go around and introduce ourselves? You first.”

Gerard flushed and said his name.

“Your ability?” Mr. Green asked, writing on his clipboard.

“Um, flight?”

Mr. Green looked up at Gerard and then chuckled. “Of course, duh. Moving on.”

“I’m Jepha, and I have enhanced marksmanship,” the wild haired boy said confidently.

“Excellent,” Mr. Green said to his clipboard.

“I’m Dan and I’m, uh, really good with all sorts of weapons,” said the taller boy, sounding a little unsure.

“Weapon Proficiency, fantastic,” said Mr. Green.

Bert introduced himself next with a simple explanation of “hand to hand fighting.”

“Oh this is gonna be my favorite class, I can already tell,” Mr. Green chuckled.

The last boy, a thin blond kid, grinned shyly. “I’m Quinn and I’ve got enhanced senses.”

“Alright,” Mr. Green said, looking up from his clipboard to smile at the five boys. “This is gonna be great.” He sat on the floor, completing their small circle, and clapped his hands. “Most teachers,” he began, “Like to start their first classes with rules and goals for the class and what not. I think we should just get right into training, what do you think?”

Everyone except Gerard nodded enthusiastically. Mr. Green noticed.

“Gerard?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“I’m kind of a, um, pacifist?” Gerard muttered.

Mr. Green nodded, pursing his lips. “That’s completely fine. It’s great to not want to fight or hurt others. The only thing is, not everyone feels the same way. You need to be able to protect yourself from people who might want to hurt _you_.”

“But I can just fly away,” Gerard countered.

“And if they bind or break your wings? Or if you’re in a space you can’t fly out of?” Mr. Green asked. “If your only defense is retreat, you could find yourself in a very difficult situation. Besides, you won’t be doing anyone any real harm in this class.”

Gerard hesitated, glancing around at the others who were watching him. “Alright,” he said.

“We’ll start off with something easy, okay?” Mr. Green climbed to his feet and the boys copied him. “Why don’t we break out the Archery equipment?”

Bert and Jepha raced off to get the targets from the closet Mr. Green pointed them toward while Gerard, Dan, and Quinn found the bows.

“Are they sharp?” Gerard asked when Quinn prodded the tip of an arrow with his finger.

“Nah, not sharp at all.” He gave Gerard an odd look. “Are you really that worried about it? I’d be looking for some payback on Bert if I were you.”

“W-what?” Gerard stuttered. Quinn and Dan laughed at him.

“I’m just joking, dude. Chill out,” Quinn said, lightly punching Gerard’s shoulder.

“Oh. Uh, haha?” Gerard laughed weakly.

“Come on boys! Let’s get a move on over there!” Mr. Green cried from across the large room. They already had the targets set up in a row.

Quinn and Dan handed out bows and arrows while Gerard carried over the protective gear. He dumped them into a pile on the floor in front of Mr. Green.

“Okay,” he said. “Strap these onto your arms,” he picked a piece out of the pile, “Like this.”

The boys each picked an arm guard and copied what Mr. Green had done.

“Those will protect your arm from the string, just in case. Now, why don’t we let Jepha go first?”

Jepha grinned and stepped away from their group, turning his back to them so his left side was facing forward. He widened his stance and glanced at the target across the gym. In a single swift movement he nocked an arrow, raised the bow, and let fly.

Gerard whipped his head around to stare at the target. A perfect bulls-eye.

“Nice!” cried Mr. Green, clapping a hand against his clipboard in an imitation of applause.

“Show off,” Bert muttered, grinning.

“Okay, let’s walk through that, step-by-step, then let the others try...”

Gerard gulped.


	9. In Which We See Through Brendon's Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Brendon's p.o.v. obviously, but also in present tense. Brendon's chapters are going to be the only ones like that, the rest will be in past tense.  
> 

When Brendon wakes up, the first thing he does, before his eyes are even fully open, is grab his notebook and write down what he saw in his sleep.

 _Blue feathers,_ he writes. _Hands that look like Ryan’s? Symbol of a cab company? Pizza with no sauce. Purple. Green. The moon._

It’s starting to slip away, so he hurriedly jots down the most important ones.

_Walking Ryan to class today. Bringing paper to breakfast. Calling mom on Friday. Tell your History teacher that you’ll be late to class next week._

Brendon drops his pen and rubs his eyes. It feels like he missed a few things, but he usually does. He rereads what he wrote, then glances around him.

Ryan is still sleeping in his bed across the room, and Brendon can’t hear the telltale sounds of other students waking up, so he assumes it’s pretty early. He hops out from under his covers and goes to take a shower.

The bathroom at the end of his hall is a decent size. It doesn’t have the giant shower stalls like the one downstairs, but it works for Brendon. He lets the water run just shy of icy before he switches it off and gets dressed. On the way back to his room he passes a few other early risers. He runs his fingertips over the door to room 318. It’s Jon and Spencer’s room, and they’re going to be his and Ryan’s friends one day. Not yet though. Brendon doesn’t want to mess anything up, so he hasn’t approached them yet, but he knows that eventually they’ll all be close friends.

Brendon chuckles as he opens his and Ryan’s door, thinking about a joke Jon is going to tell him someday, and he notices that Ryan is awake.

“Morning!” Brendon says cheerfully. He hangs his wet towel on the door to their tiny bathroom then plops down on his bed.

“Morning,” Ryan answers under a yawn. His hair is sticking up all over the place, matted down on one side and standing straight up on the other. Brendon wants to cross the room and pet it back into place, but he knows he can’t.

One day he’ll be able to walk over, sit in bed with Ryan and tuck his hair behind his ear. He knows it because he saw it a few weeks ago. He’s not bummed that he won’t get to experience his first love as it occurs, like some precogs would be. He’s just thrilled that it’s going to happen. He can’t wait.

“You alright?” Ryan asks him, stifling another yawn behind his hand.

“Yeah, just, you know,” Brendon answers, waving a hand vaguely in the air.

“Future stuff?” Ryan laughs softly.

“Yup, exactly.”

“Anything good?” he asks as he gathers his bathroom stuff.

“Pizza for lunch today, I think.”

“Nice.” Ryan moves towards the door, arms full of clothes and toiletries. “See you.”

“Yup,” Brendon smiles.

When his parents had decided to enroll their son in Brian Schechter’s School for the Gifted,  
Brendon had practically drowned under the onslaught of visions. So many new people and places. New conversations, new classes, new paths. His future had been altered, and so had countless others. It had taken him hours to come out the other side, and days to get his tenses right again.

He had told his parents over dinner about something funny Frank had said before he remembered that they hadn’t met yet.

He had been upset that his laptop was broken, until he realized that it wouldn't happen for months still.

“Don’t worry though,” he had told his dad. “Ray will fix it for me.”

“Who?”

“A friend of mine, or, he will be a friend. Probably. No, definitely. Not a super close friend it feels like, but definitely-”

“Brendon,” his dad interrupted.

“Right,” he said, shaking his head and smiling. “Sorry.”

One of the nicest things about his friends, he thinks, is that they don’t get annoyed when Brendon starts rambling about the future. Ryan just smiles and touches Brendon’s wrist to get a read on the emotions in his visions. Frank giggles and asks eager questions. Gerard gets visibly uncomfortable and starts rambling about something unrelated. Jon is going to lean back with his hands behind his head and just listen.

Brendon loves his new friends, even the ones he hasn’t met yet.

When Ryan gets back from his shower, they go down to breakfast together, but not before Brendon rips a blank page from his notebook, folds it, and tucks it in his pocket. Ryan doesn’t ask, and Brendon thinks it’s pretty awesome of him.

Gerard finishes eating before everyone else and starts to fidget. Brendon notices and takes the blank piece of paper from his pocket and slides it down the table to him. Gerard barely hesitates before smiling at Brendon, pulling a pen from his pocket, and setting to work. Ever since the incident with the sword, Gerard has trusted Brendon’s motives pretty explicitly. After a few minutes, Frank notices and leans over to look.

“Whoa, Gerard! I didn’t know you could draw!”

Gerard ducks his head. “It’s not too-”

“It’s awesome! You’re really good!” Frank exclaims, throwing an arm around Gerard’s neck.  
Gerard flushes, and Brendon smiles to himself. Ryan presses two fingers to the inside of  
Brendon’s wrist, discreetly, to leech a little of his abundant happiness and Brendon lets him, because he likes it when Ryan’s happy.

Ryan had explained his power to Brendon the first day they had met.

“I can’t just create emotions, you know? They have to come from somewhere. I can feel what everyone’s feeling around me most of the time, but I need to touch their skin to get specifics. And to make someone feel something, I have to already feel it. I can’t make someone happy when I’m sad. If I touch them, I’ll just make _them_ sad.”

“That makes sense,” Brendon had agreed.

“So, even just sitting next to you, I can tell you’re really happy, kinda nervous. Excited and bubbly, I guess.”

Brendon smiled.

“So if I wanted, I could quell the nervousness, and sort of, enhance the happiness, and then I could take some of your happiness and make myself feel it, you know? I can only work with what’s there.”

“Will you show me?” Brendon asked, holding out his hand.

“Um, sure.”

Ryan reached out cautiously to touch Brendon’s wrist. At first, Brendon was overwhelmed with a feeling of awkward shyness, but Ryan quickly reigned it in and focused. Brendon could feel Ryan plucking at the nervous edge he had been riding since he woke up that morning, folding it and smothering it. A few moments later, it was almost entirely gone.

“See?” Ryan muttered, still touching Brendon.

“Yeah, that’s really cool,” Brendon smiled.

Ryan’s fingers lingered on Brendon’s pulse for a few more seconds until they were both smiling widely at each other.

.

After breakfast, Brendon walks with Ryan to Meditation class, with a bit of spring in his step. He already knows that today is going to be a good day, so he decides to start enjoying it early. As they walk, Ryan tells Brendon about the Equestrian class he had yesterday after lunch.

“It’s really cool, you know?” Ryan sighs. “I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to get a read on the horses someday, see how they feel. Mrs. Spooner says she’s okay with me trying as long as I don’t spook them but I think if anything I’d be able to calm them, you know?”

“Yeah,” Brendon agrees.

Ryan face scrunches up. “I’m sorry, I’m boring you aren’t I?”

“No! Not at all,” he insists as he opens the classroom door. “Maybe you can show me the stables this weekend. I wonder if I could see their futures?”

They pick cushions next to each other in the second row. The class has already started to fill up.

“What, the horses?” Ryan asks.

“Yeah!”

“I wonder what that’d be like?” Ryan muses, wrinkling his nose a bit. Brendon tries not to beam too obviously. “Do you think anything really interesting is going to happen to any of them?”

“Who knows,” Brendon gushes. “Maybe one of them will escape the grounds and wander into the mountains and meet up with a herd of wild horses and-”

“Okay, class!” the teacher calls.

Ryan grins shyly at Brendon, then turns his attention to the front of the class. Brendon thinks maybe his heart will explode.

As it turns out, Brendon is not very good at meditating. As soon as he starts to relax he starts to See and then he starts thinking about the future and the possibilities and what the things he’s Seeing means and how it will affect him. He starts to fidget.

“Brendon,” Ryan whispers. “You’re making me nervous.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Brendon whispers back, clenching his eyes shut and trying to let go.

A few minutes pass and Ryan whispers to him again.

“Just take a deep breath, try and relax.”

“I- can’t,” Brendon hisses back through clenched teeth. “There- There’s a lot going on.”  
Ryan peeks an eye open to look at Brendon’s furrowed brow. Mr. Thompson is in the back row, helping another student, so Ryan reaches over and touches two fingers to Brendon’s wrist, letting his easy calm flow over the connection. Brendon’s face relaxes and his shoulders droop noticeably. Ryan takes a deep breath, relieved to have the ball of tension next to him dissipate. He leaves his fingertips on Brendon’s skin, shuts his eyes, and focuses on his meditation again.

At the end of class Mr. Thompson calls for everyone’s attention again. Ryan opens his eyes and pulls away from Brendon, who still has his eyes closed. Ryan shakes his shoulder.

“That was really good you guys,” the teacher smiles. “I want you to work on your meditation every day, and when we meet again I’ll come around and speak to each of you about how you’re going to want to proceed.”

The bell rings, and everyone stands and begins to shuffle out the door. Ryan shakes Brendon’s shoulder again.

“Um, Mr. Thompson?” he calls over the noises of other students in the hall.

“Oh, what do we have here?” Mr. Thompson says, walking around his desk to sit in front of the boys. “You are?”

“Ryan, sir.”

“And this is?” he asks, looking over Brendon’s prone form.

“Brendon.”

“Do you know what his mutation is?” Mr. Thompson asks, pressing his thumb to Brendon’s forehead.

“Precog.”

“Ahh, I see.”

Mr. Thompson leans forward then, and begins whispering in Brendon’s ear, so low that Ryan can’t hear. The next class starts to arrive and they stand huddled in the doorway, watching curiously.

A few minutes pass before Mr. Thompson finally pulls away and Brendon blinks his eyes open.

“Brendon?” the teacher asks.

“Hmm?” Brendon hums.

“You okay?” Mr. Thompson asks, an indulgent smile spreading across his face.

“Yeah,” Brendon whispers. He blinks a few times and looks around, eyes widening in surprise. 

“Oh! Is class over?”

“Yeah,” Ryan answers, shooting a confused look at their teacher.

Mr. Thompson chuckles. “We’re gonna have to work on that.” He stands and helps Brendon to his feet. “Okay, Brendon. Absolutely _no meditating_ until our next class, alright? Brendon?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. No meditating. Okay. Are we-? What’s-?”

“Boys, what’s your next class? I’ll write you a note.”

“Free period,” Brendon answers, turning confused eyes on Ryan. “Oh, hey Ryan. How long have you- Did you already?”

“Umm,” Ryan answers.

Mr. Thompson hands Ryan a note for his next class, explaining why he’s late, then lays a hand on Brendon’s shoulder. “Brendon,” he says loudly. “Why don’t you walk Ryan to his next class and then go lay down, okay?”

“Sure, yeah okay. Yeah. I thought I already did that?”

“Come on Brendon,” Ryan chuckles, taking the boy by the elbow and steering him towards the door. The other students part to let them pass.

“Oh, hey Bob! And Ray too! What day is it?”

Bob and Ray, standing among the next class, watch bemusedly as the pair pass by.

“Okay, okay. Come on in and sit, everyone,” Mr. Thompson calls as the door shuts behind them.

They walk in silence for a little while, Ryan leading Brendon along.

“I feel like we already did this, like, three times already,” Brendon mutters.

“Really?”

“Yeah, like. At least a dozen times,” Brendon says, waving his hand in front of them, indicating the now-empty hallway.

“Are you gonna be okay?” Ryan asks, slightly worried about his new friend.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. Today is fine, I knew that. Three Thursdays from now I think something happens. And Tomorrow? Something definitely happens tomorrow. I think.”

Ryan decides that if their teacher wasn’t worried, he shouldn’t be either. He stops in front of his Geometry classroom and touches Brendon’s wrist. He’s completely calm, totally serene. There’s no hint of distress or anger or anything that would make Ryan worry. He tries to pull the layer of confusion away to let Brendon clear his head but it doesn’t seem to work too well.

“You’re gonna be late for class,” Brendon mutters.

“That’s alright,” Ryan smiles. “Go lay down okay? I’ll pick you up on the way to lunch.”

“Okay,” Brendon beams. “Pizza today!” He plants a kiss on Ryan’s cheek, then turns and strolls away, whistling brightly.

Ryan watches him go, standing in shock and confusion for a moment. He presses a hand to his cheek and can tell he’s blushing furiously. He giggles softly, then turns to open the door to his Geometry class


	10. In Which We See Through Mikey's Eyes

On Wednesday night, Mikey crawled into bed and leaned back against the wall. He folded his skinny legs in front of him under his covers and rested his hands open in his lap. Mikey decided after Meditation class on Monday that it was going to be his favorite class. Every night and every morning since then, he had practiced. He wanted to get better.

Mikey shut his eyes and let out a slow breath, opening his mind. All at once there was a cacophony in his head, like the entire school had climbed into his bed and started shouting. It was nearly overwhelming and he couldn’t hear a word. He took another deep breath and focused on keeping his face smooth and his hands relaxed. Pulling in the edges, Mikey started to retract his reach. Little by little, the voices on the edges faded away.

Mikey couldn’t help but to catch snatches of conversations and random thoughts. He didn’t really want to hear everything he did, but he couldn’t help it. His Ethics teacher had told him not to spy, but his Power Control teacher told him to practice.

He narrowed his focus, pulling it back to himself.

A girl one floor over poked into his mind. A question mark.

_Meditating. Sorry._

She sent him a small smile and carefully put up a wall between them. Mikey wanted to learn walls. His Power Control teacher had said they could practice it soon. Someone else poked into his head, but he ignored it. He didn’t want to get distracted by every other telepath in the school.

He pulled, and pulled. Breathed in and out. He didn’t realize he had furrowed his brow and clenched his hands until the last thoughts faded away and he was alone in his head.

The silence was as much of a relief as it was terrifying. As comforting as it was disturbing. The constant dull ache in his temples started to fade away, but the fear that anyone could approach him without him knowing started to creep up.

Mikey tried to breathe through it and rein in the terror of being completely alone and completely defenseless. He told himself, _just a few more seconds,_ and concentrated on breathing. The empty room sounded weird. His roommate, Pete, had left for the showers a little bit ago leaving Mikey alone to practice.

Finally, Mikey let out a long, shaky breath and the voices came tumbling back in, but only the ones closest to him.

_Mikey?_

_Hey Gee._

_You okay? I thought I felt you a minute ago but you didn’t answer._

_Was meditating_ , Mikey mumbled. He was exhausted all of a sudden. He leaned to the side to collapse into his pillow.

 _Oh, how’d it go?_ Gerard asked.

 _Pretty good._ He caught a glimpse of a messy room covered in tiny, fluffy feathers. The desk was covered in papers and books. Gerard had a drawing in front of him, but Mikey was too tired to take a closer look. _I’m gonna go to sleep_ , Mikey yawned. _You guys need to clean your room._

He could feel Gerard’s smile over their connection. _Night, Mikes._

_Night, Gerard._

.

Pete eased the door to his and Mikey’s room open gently. He had felt Mikey in his head a minute or two before, but he hadn’t said anything because he had known Mikey was meditating. He shut the door behind him and grinned at Mikey’s thin form, completely passed out. He looked like he had just managed to get horizontal before falling unconscious.

Pete didn’t really understand how tiring it was to meditate. He wasn’t very good at it anyway. Their Power Control teacher had told him that meditating would help Pete tame the fire, but he didn’t see how.

The fire was just _there,_ he couldn’t simply _tame it._ You can’t control fire.

Pete slipped into their tiny, private bathroom to pull on his pajamas. His shower had left his skin pink from the intensity of the heat. He always took his showers as hot as he could get them. His parents had complained that he used all the hot water, but Pete hated getting wet and that was his compromise.

He hung his towel up and saw tiny burn holes left from his fingers.

“Whoops,” he muttered. Their floor manager would be pissed when he asked for a new one, but it’s not like he could help it, his fingers just burned sometimes.

Pete had been lucky enough to not burn anyone at school yet, but he knew it was going to happen eventually. Both his parents’ arms were littered with tiny burn marks from when he was a kid.

Mikey had asked why Pete didn’t burn himself, and Pete didn’t know. He figured it was just a part of his mutation.

He had been very, _very_ careful to not touch Mikey since they had met a few days ago. He thought Mikey was really cool and he didn’t want the skinny telepath to get mad at him. Patrick had told Pete that he would heal automatically if Pete ever burned him, but that he had never tried healing other people’s burns before. Joe had been very careful to avoid Pete’s touch, seeing as how their mutations were natural opposites and neither one knew what would happen. Andy had, very pointedly, told Pete _not_ to touch his flowers.

Pete grinned at Mikey again as he crossed the room, then fell into his own bed. He took a second to crumble away the rough burnt parts of his blanket before he pulled it over his body and fell asleep.

.

 

Mikey woke up a few minutes after Pete did. Pete was humming to himself while he got out of bed, singing the words in his head.

 _What song is that?_ Mikey asked.

Pete didn’t jump or exclaim or anything, he just turned to smile at Mikey. _It’s one I’m writing._

 _You write songs?_ Mikey asked curiously. He sat up in bed and grabbed his glasses from the top of his bureau.

_Sometimes._

Mikey got up and went into the bathroom, listening as Pete picked up his song again. The students in the next room were still sleeping, their dreams were fuzzy and warped, and Mikey tried to ignore it. On the next floor up, Gerard was being woken up by Frank who was talking about the flight class they had had the day before. Gerard had been so nervous to fly in front of other people, but Frank had loved it.

Mikey knew that Gerard really loved his wings, but he was really shy about them. Frank secretly loved people fawning over his wings, but Mikey knew he would never admit it. Frank liked the way Gerard watched him when he flew. Mikey shook his head at the both of them and left the bathroom.

Pete was dressed and sitting at their desk, writing down the lyrics in his head. Mikey got dressed behind Pete’s back and suggested rhyming words. They went down to breakfast together.  
The cafeteria was loud to everyone, but for Mikey it was just this side of unbearable. The noise of everyone talking to each other was in his ears, while the racket of everyone thinking at once was in his head. He focused on Pete’s thoughts until Gerard finally walked into the cafeteria with Frank, then he switched over to his brother’s mind.

 _Morning,_ he said.

 _Morning, Mikey,_ Gerard answered from across the room.

Mikey zeroed in on Gerard’s thoughts to try and block out the myriad of others in his head. He was thinking about the double blocks of Patterns and Physics he had that day and how he really wanted some orange juice and how he needed to call their mom soon to let her know that their first week had gone well. Frank turned to tell Gerard something and instantaneously his thoughts became very linear and sort of... shiny.

Mikey chuckled to himself and switched back to Pete’s head. He didn’t need to know what Gerard thought of Frank’s lips and voice and ass.

“What do we have first today?” Pete asked.

Mikey heard Patrick, Joe, and Andy’s answer of “Swim class” in their heads before they spoke them. Mikey nudged Pete with his toe.

_You and I have Stealth class._

“Oh, sweet,” Pete answered. “I wonder what that’s gonna be like?”

Across the cafeteria, Gerard and Frank were sitting down with their friends, exchanging greetings. Mikey poked into Gerard’s head again.

 _Have any of your friends had Stealth class yet?_ he asked.

Mikey waited while Gerard asked around the table. He knew the answer before Gerard responded with a _no._

Mikey let his mind drift between Gerard’s and Pete’s until Pete finished his breakfast and jumped up.

“Come on, Mikey!” he said, pulling the skinny boy to his feet. “Let’s go be stealthy!”


	11. In Which Pete and Mikey have Stealth Class

The Stealth class was located in the basement, one of the few classes to be held underneath the school. Students were only allowed in the basement for classes, so even Pete hadn’t yet seen that part of the school.

For some reason, he had expected it to be dark and spooky down there, but it looked just like the hall above them.

 _Well, that’s no fun,_ Pete muttered to Mikey, bemoaning the lack of spiders and leaky pipes and maybe a vampire or two.

 _The school’s brand new, stupid,_ Mikey snickered back. _Plus, Gerard lives in the basement at home and it’s not too spooky down there._

 _Booooring,_ Pete sighed.

The two boys continued on down the bright hallway until they got to room B-06. There were already a few students inside, picking seats and chatting with each other. The room looked just like most of the other classrooms, except for a large black screen on the opposite wall.

 _Wonder what that’s for?_ Mikey asked as he and Pete sat down next to each other.

_Dunno. Maybe we’ll be watching a ton of movies in this class!_

Mikey grinned. _I doubt it._

Just then the teacher walked in, shutting the door with a snap behind her. A hush fell over the dozen or so students as they looked up at their teacher.

“Welcome!” she exclaimed, stepping to the front of the classroom and spreading her arms as if to envelop them all. She was short; not as short as Pete but not nearly as tall as their other teachers. Her skin was dark, as was her hair, and she was wearing a light purple skirt and top. She smiled widely at them all. “I’m Mrs. Ward. Welcome to Stealth class.”

Mrs. Ward leaned back against her desk and crossed her ankles. “Now, time is short and I’d like to get a match in today, so we’ll be quick about the rules.”

 _Match?_ Pete said, turning to look at Mikey, who just shrugged.

“The game is simple. First team to retrieve the flag and bring it back to me are the winners and will get out of homework for the week.” Mrs. Ward grinned at all the excited faces before her. “I’m going to split you into two teams, but first, I’d like you all to put one of these on.”

She pushed away from her desk and reached into a large box sitting next to it. She pulled out what looked like a black mesh jersey, and held it up.

“You’ll wear these while in the field as a means of tracking and getting tagged out.”

A small girl in the front row raised her hand. “Ma’am? Uh, what field and what are we getting tagged out of?”

“Ah, yes,” Mrs. Ward said, chuckling. “The Stealth Course, boys and girls.” She grabbed a small remote off her desk and pointed it at the black screen. Instantly the screen lit up, showing a number of squares outlined in white and a blinking yellow star in the center. Mrs. Ward walked over to the screen and pointed at the star. “Here’s the flag, your goal. Over here, on each side of the field is where each team will be entering. The white represents your obstacles and cover while moving around. One team’s jerseys will be represented as blue, the others will be orange. When a team captures the flag, it will turn green, and will remain green until it is out of play.”

Mrs. Ward turned away from the screen and stared down her students.

“The most important rule is that this is _touch_ tag. No offensive powers will be allowed; no super strength, no weapons, no laser beams. Got it?”

The class mumbled an affirmative.

“Alright now, everyone put on a jersey and I’ll split you up.”

Pete stuck close to Mikey’s side as they stepped forward for a jersey. Pete let the material run over his fingers, marvelling. It was like... delicate metal, or really solid plastic. He couldn’t burn it... Not that he tried or anything.

Once every student had a jersey on, Mrs. Ward sent half of them to one end of the class, the other half to the opposite. Pete hadn’t noticed before, but now that he was looking he could see a plain white door on each end. Mrs. Ward told the students to go “down to the field and wait for my instructions.”

Pete raised his eyebrows at Mikey, who had ended up on his team, then at the rest of the kids around him. No one seemed to want to go first, so Pete squared his small shoulders and pulled the door open. Before him was a set of stairs, spiraling into darkness. He stepped down and heard the others following behind. When they reached the bottom, they were facing the direction they had come. But they weren’t in another classroom.

Pete’s jaw dropped. The stairs had come out into what looked like an indoor football stadium. It was huge, the ceiling was high, he almost couldn’t see the opposite end, but it was all black. The floors, the ceiling, the walls, all black, and rising from the floor in every direction were huge black column-like structures, all different sizes and heights. It was like a giant obstacle course.

“Alright!” came the booming, crackling voice of Mrs. Ward. In unison Pete and the rest of his team jumped and looked up. “I’ll be monitoring you on the screen. When you get tagged, your mark on the screen will turn red and you will be required to return to your starting point and wait until the end of the match. Like I said before, no offensive powers, this is _touch tag only_. Now... Begin!”

Pete, Mikey, and the four other kids on their team jumped again. They all looked at each other then cautiously broke apart and headed into the field.

 _Come on, Mikey!_ Pete said, grabbing Mikey by his jersey and pulling him toward the closest column. They hid between the giant block and the wall, huddled close.

 _How do you wanna do this?_ Mikey asked, peeking around the side of the column at his back. _You wanna just make a run for it?_

 _Duh, Mikey. You can become invisible!_ Pete said, trying to contain his laughter.

 _Oh, yeah._ Mikey glanced around and then blinked out of sight. Pete grinned widely at the nothingness in front of him. _I can’t make you invisible though,_ Mikey pointed out.

_How ‘bout... Um. You go ahead of me, and tell me what’s coming up, and then I can sneak up on people and tag them out?_

_Awesome!_ Mikey said, his silent chuckle echoing across their connection. _Alright, let’s go!_

Mikey slipped away, giving directions to Pete as he went. Pete hurried along behind him, taking light steps and trying to see as far as possible in the semi-darkness.

 _On your left, coming up,_ Mikey muttered.

Pete crept up to the corner of the towering column at his left and waited.

_Almost... wait for it... Now!_

Pete jumped out and tagged the jersey of a short girl, who gasped and then pouted when she realized she was out. She gave Pete a dirty look then headed back the way she had came, shoulders hunched.

 _That was awesome!_ Mikey cried. Pete heard a little chuckle from across the path he was on and grinned, hurrying to catch up to Mikey.

The pair moved quickly and silently across the field, pausing at each open area to scan for opponents. They managed to take out another two people.

They had just stopped to huddle close and try to figure out how close to the flag they were, when Pete spotted a speck of white out of the corner of his eye.

_Mikey... I think that’s it! That’s the flag!_

Mikey went quiet for a moment, looking for himself, then laughed across their connection. _It totally is! We’re gonna win!_

Pete grinned. _Go for it Mikey, Go grab it!_

Pete could hear soft footsteps as Mikey jogged away. Pete stood, waiting anxiously as he checked his back and watched the flag. A few seconds later he saw the flag move. It floated off the pedestal it had been stuck on, then began hovering towards him.

“The flag is in play!” came Mrs. Ward’s booming voice over the hidden speakers.

Pete jumped, and watched the flag halt for a moment, then come flying towards him.

_Pete, I can’t make the flag invisible! You take it and I’ll lead you back, alright?”_

The flag was shoved into Pete’s hands by Mikey’s invisible ones. It was made of plain white fabric tied to a wooden stick. _But, Mikey-_

_Come on!_

Pete clutched the flag with both hands and started back the way they had come, following Mikey’s instructions. They rushed around columns and down pathways, hurrying back towards their door.

 _We’re almost there!_ Mikey exclaimed. _We’re gonna win, Pete!_

Pete beamed. He could see the door now as he dodged around another pillar. Mikey popped back into view in front of him and looked back, smiling. A real, huge smile.

Pete’s attention was torn away from Mikey when he smelled smoke. He gasped and looked down at the flag in his hands. It was on fire.

“Oh no, no, no!” he groaned. He tried to put it out but his fingers just started more patches of flame.

“The game is over,” said Mrs. Ward said. “Please return to the classroom.”

Mikey and Pete stared at each other in horror. There was nothing left of the flag but the wooden stick, scorched and mocking them.

 _I’m so sorry, Mikey,_ Pete said dejectedly as they climbed back up the steps.

 _It’s okay, Pete. It wasn’t your fault._ Mikey assured him, giving him a lopsided smirk. _You think Mrs. Ward’s gonna be mad?_

_Oh, damn._

They both blinked as they re-entered the brightly lit classroom. Mrs. Ward didn’t look at them as they moved forward and sat. The other students started to appear, looking either confused or put out. Once everyone was seated and stripped of their jerseys, Mrs. Ward looked around at them all and smiled.

“Well, that went really well for your first time, I have to say. I actually didn’t expect anyone to get the flag.”

“But which team won?” A blond boy asked.

“Neither one.” The students look at each other in confusion. “Pete, Mikey,” Mrs. Warn said. “Why don’t you tell us what happened?”

Everyone turned to stare at the two boys. Mikey blushed scarlet and immediately popped out of sight. Mrs. Warn hid a smile behind her fingers. “Pete?”

“Uh...” Pete squirmed in his seat, then frowned and held up the burnt stick. “I... accidentally burnt the flag.”

The four other students on Pete and Mikey’s team let out a groan.

“It’s alright,” Mrs. Ward said over them. “We’ve got about five minutes left of class, so why don’t we go over what happened.”

“Well, Mikey and I teamed up and started from the corner. We, uh. Mikey turned invisible and went before me and told me when people on the other team were coming up.”

“And while you were doing that, what was happening with the rest of your team?” Mrs. Ward asked gently.

“Oh, uh.” Pete glanced around at the four other students. He didn’t even know their names. “I don’t know.”

Mrs. Ward smiled at him then addressed the rest of the class.

“Each team made their first critical mistake at the very beginning of the match. You all split up.”  
A few kids stirred uneasily.

“We’re almost out of time, but next week we’ll be reviewing, in detail, today’s match. For now, your homework will be to write me an essay describing why you split from your group, and why that was a mistake. I want you to explain why staying together as a group would have been more beneficial to your team as a whole. You’re dismissed.”

The students around them stood and filed out of the room. Mikey reappeared when they were mostly alone. Pete stood and Mikey copied him, heading towards the door.

“Actually,” called Mrs. Ward. “I’d like to speak to you both, if you don’t mind.”

 _Uh oh,_ Mikey muttered to Pete. The two boys approached the desk, expecting to get scolded.

Mrs. Ward held out her hand and Pete gently placed the burnt stick in her palm. She set it on her desk. “Now, obviously you’re a fire manipulator,” she said to Pete before turning to Mikey, “and you, telepathy and invisibility. Anything else?”

Mikey shook his head.

“And Pete gave you permission to enter his mind?”

Mikey nodded, Pete joining in.

“Yeah,” Pete said. “It’s fine with me.”

Mrs. Ward gave Mikey a strange look. “Mikey, can you speak?”

Mikey’s face twisted up in a pout and Pete jumped in to rescue him.

“He doesn’t like to, Ma’am. It’s easier for him to just talk to people in their heads.”

Mikey gave him a small smile.

“And if someone doesn’t want you entering their mind?” Mrs. Ward asked.

“He talks through other people, like me or his brother.”

“Your brother is at this school?”

Mikey nodded and Pete clarified.

“Gerard. He’s got wings.”

Mrs. Ward gave them both a long look, then nodded. “Alright, you can both go up to lunch. I’ll see you next week.”

Mikey and Pete rushed out of the classroom and back up to the first floor.

 _That was weird, huh?_ Pete asked, dodging through the crowds on the way to the cafeteria.

_Yeah, really weird. At least we didn’t get in trouble!_

They both laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5/9/17 - I am going through every chapter and double-spacing and making small edits. I'm aiming to edit a few chapters a week. Everything passed this point is still in its original state from 2013.


	12. In Which There is Homework and Crushes

Gerard sighed, glaring at the work sheet in front of him.  
“Frank, what’d you get for question 12?” Gerard asked, pushing his hair out of his face for the hundredth time.  
“Uhh...” Frank squinted at his homework. “Marsupials. Why, what’d you get?”  
Gerard pinched the bridge of his nose. “Frogs,” he groaned.  
“Wait, what?” Ray asked, looking up from his Chemistry book. “How did you-?”  
“I don’t even know,” Gerard sighed, resisting the urge to crumple up the paper and throw it across the courtyard. “Why do we have so much homework already? It’s only the first week!”  
“The world holds mutants to a higher standard, Gee,” Frank said, sticking his naked chest out. He refused to wear a shirt most days, Gerard had found. The feathers on his wings fluttered in the breeze.  
It was an amazing day out, so the four boys had decided to do their homework outside in the courtyard. “Why waste an entire Saturday inside?” Frank had asked, dragging Gerard into the sunlight. Gerard had hissed at the warm glow, making Frank giggle.  
“That’s not true,” Bob said, not looking up from the diagram he was drawing. “It’s just a really good school. They expect us to be smart.”  
“Well, that’s dumb,” Gerard moaned. He set his pencil down across his worksheet and looked around the open courtyard.  
There were quite a few other students outside, sharing in the sunlight. There was a group of girls sitting clustered together, chatting and giggling, occasionally throwing glances towards Gerard and his friends. Gerard blushed and looked away. In the farthest part of the yard Gerard saw one girl laid out on a blanket, wearing a bikini and soaking in the sun. She was glowing in an unnatural way, hurting Gerard’s eyes. He looked away, trailing his eyes across benches and bushes and fountains. He spotted four boys hidden under the shadow of the wall. Two of them were leaning against the brick wall while the other two practiced fighting. Gerard recognized the long, tangled hair.  
He watched Bert and Quinn as they moved, slowly and deliberately. Bert would throw a punch, not intending it to land, while Quinn would move to block it. Gerard stretched his wings out the tiniest bit, cutting off the sound from behind him and enhancing his hearing. He could just make out Bert talking as they moved. _He must be teaching them,_ Gerard realized.  
He watched for a while until Frank poked him in the leg with a pencil.  
“Gee, whatcha lookin’ at?”  
“Huh? Oh, uh. Nothing.”  
Frank looked into the corner of the courtyard, following the path Gerard’s eyes had been taking, and spotted Bert and his friends.  
“Who’re they?”  
“They’re in my Combat class,” Gerard muttered.  
The tips of Frank’s wings quivered. “You mean the ones who almost beheaded you?”  
“That was an accident, Frankie.”  
“Uh huh.” Frank clicked his tongue and went back to his Biology homework, wing tips still shaking.  
Gerard bit his lip and glanced back over to the four boys. They weren’t practicing anymore. Instead, they were all looking over at Gerard, Quinn muttering to the others.  
Bert lifted a hand in greeting. Gerard blushed and copied him. Bert said something to his friends, then they all started in Gerard’s direction.  
“Hey, Gerard!” Bert said as they stopped in front of the four sitting boys.  
“Uh, hey,” Gerard said back, smiling. “What are you up to?”  
“Sparring,” Bert said with a grin. “Mr. Green told me we’re gonna do hand-to-hand after Archery.”  
“Oh, uh. Awesome,” Gerard supplied weakly. He suddenly realized that his friends were watching him. “Oh, guys. This is Bert, Quinn, Jepha, and Dan. These are my friends, Frank, Bob and Ray.”  
There were greetings all around, and then a short silence fell.  
“Are you guys going to Gabe’s tonight?” Jepha asked, looking around. “We’re all gonna be there.”  
“Yeah,” Gerard said without thinking. “I mean. Yeah, sure.”  
“I’ll be there,” Frank said shortly. “Definitely.”  
Gerard turned to give the boy a confused look. He hadn’t heard Frank sound like that before, but Frank was staring up at Bert.  
“Awesome,” smiled Bert. “Well, I’ll see you tonight, Gerard.”  
“Yeah, see you.”  
Gerard watched Bert and his friends leave the courtyard, going back into the school. He looked around and realized Frank was staring at him.  
“What’s up?” he asked.  
“Nothing,” Frank mumbled, dropping his eyes to his worksheet.  
Gerard sighed and did the same. His homework wouldn’t get done on it’s own.  
“Hey, what’d you get for 13, Frankie?”

When the sun eventually set, Gerard, Frank, Ray, Bob, Brendon, and Ryan headed up for the second to top floor.  
Gerard had brushed his messy hair out and put on a clean shirt, but he was still nervous. Even Frank had put a shirt on, borrowing one of Gerard’s.  
He hoped that he would have more to talk about this time, seeing as how he had a weeks worth of classes under his belt. He also kinda hoped he would see Bert.  
They could hear the party before they even got close. Gerard was amazed that the teachers or floor manager hadn’t shut them down yet. The door was wide open and students were spilling out into the hallway, talking and laughing.  
Frank grabbed Gerard by the hand as soon as they got inside, pulling him into the crowd. Gerard blushed.  
They ended up clustered by the back wall, talking loudly over the music to Ray and Bob while Brendon and Ryan went off on their own. Gerard scanned the room but didn’t see Bert anywhere.  
“My dear boys!” came a silky cry. Suddenly Gabe was amidst their group, one arm over Gerard’s shoulder, the other over Ray’s. “And how are we all doing on this fiiiine evening?”  
“Great!” Frank answered immediately, grinning. Gerard nodded in agreement.  
“Well, that’s just lovely,” Gabe said, beaming at the pair. He turned to Ray and Bob. “I don’t believe we’ve met? I’m Gabe Saporta, host of this little shindig.”  
“I’m Ray,” the frizzy haired boy supplied, holding a hand out.  
Gabe took it and blinked. “A Technopath! That must be so much fun! You must give me a demonstration one of these days!”  
Ray smiled and nodded. “Of course, I’d love to!”  
“Excellent. And this is...?”  
“Bob,” answered the surly blond boy. He didn’t hold out his hand, an action that Gabe did not miss.  
“Lovely, lovely,” he said, looking Bob up and down curiously. He turned back to the group at large. “I’m so glad you all came, enjoy yourselves now!”  
And with a spin and a chuckle he was gone, already making his way across the room, chatting and smiling at his other guests.  
“What a weird dude,” Ray laughed.  
“He is kinda... off,” Gerard agreed.  
“You talkin’ about Gabe?”  
Gerard jumped as Bert appeared at his shoulder, right where Gabe had stood a moment before.  
“Guy’s out of his mind,” Bert laughed.  
“He’s not that bad. I think he’s cool,” Frank piped up, staring Bert down.  
Bert shrugged. “Just my opinion, man.” He turned, still smiling, to Gerard. “How’s it going?”  
“Good,” Gerard said, trying not to sound too eager. “How, you know, how are you?”  
Bert chuckled. “Good, good. You excited for more archery tomorrow?”  
“I can’t say that I am,” Gerard admitted with a smirk. “I don’t think Combat is gonna be my best class.”  
“No way man, I’ll help you. It’ll be great.”  
“Yeah, okay. Awesome.”  
“At least I know you’re excited for Tuesday, right?” Bert grinned.  
Gerard smiled, thinking about the Drawing class they shared. “Oh yeah, definitely.” He smiled and looked around. Ray and Bob were talking to Quinn and Dan, Jepha had disappeared and Frank was watching Gerard and Bert’s conversation with a weird look on his face. Gerard grabbed him by the wrist the way Frank always did to him and pulled him forward a bit.  
“Frank’s taking band class,” Gerard told Bert. “And I’m super jealous because I can’t play an instrument to save my own life.”  
“Really?” Bert said, smiling. “What do you play Frank?”  
Frank shifted his footing. “Guitar.”  
“That’s awesome,” Bert said, his eyes widening. “I can’t play anything for shit. Quinny’s the musical one, you know? He plays guitar too.”  
“What’s that?” Quinn asked over Ray’s shoulder.  
“Talking about you playing guitar,” Bert answered.  
Quinn smiled and stepped closer, slinging an arm over Bert’s shoulder. “Oh yeah. I tried to teach Bert, since he’s my roomie. I swear to God, I have never heard an instrument cry out in pain before.”  
They all laughed and Ray jumped on the topic.  
“What kind of guitar do you have?”  
“Gibson SG, you?”  
“Gibson Les Paul,” Ray answered with a grin. “Dude, we should jam.”  
“Absolutely! I was just telling Jepha-”  
Gerard tuned out the conversation as it became all about guitars and set ups and technical stuff. He turned to Frank and smiled, still holding onto the boy’s wrist. Frank smiled back.  
“I’m kinda tired,” Frank said over the music and talking. “You wanna go?”  
“Sure.” Gerard looked back to Bert, who was watching Quinn talk. “Hey, we’re getting out of here, I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
Bert gave Gerard a smile. “Okay, night guys.”  
Gerard let Frank pull him through the crowd again, people falling to the side so they didn’t get hit with either boy’s huge set of wings. Gerard let out a sigh of relief when they got back to their room.  
“You know, I don’t think parties are my thing,” he admitted as he crossed the room to grab his pajamas.  
Frank plopped down on his bed, wings stretched as far as he could get them in the small room. “Maybe we should skip the next one.”  
“That’s alright with me,” Gerard said, smiling at Frank. Frank smiled back and Gerard turned away to blush. _Yeah,_ he thought. _Maybe they’d skip the next one._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, obviously, I'm on a BSSFTG kick. I'll probably write another chapter or two and then get back into Dealer!Verse for a while.  
> The feedback I'm getting on both stories is amazing and I really appreciate all the comments and kudos!
> 
> (I have two chapters written passed this. Once I get a few comments I'll start posting again XD)


	13. In Which The Boys Complain A Lot

Gerard and Frank spent most of their Sunday holed up in their room, doing homework. By the time Monday morning came around, they were exhausted.  
“Homework. Is. Dumb,” Frank declared as they made their way up to the Meditation classroom.  
“I’m thinking, maybe we should start doing our homework during our free periods instead of leaving it all for the weekend,” Gerard sighed.  
“Agreed.”  
They stepped into the dim, dark red room and headed for the back row. Frank immediately went about setting up his desks while Gerard just fell onto his cushion. Frank grabbed a chair so we could climb up and then settled himself, wing tips brushing the floor.  
“Your feathers are starting to get dirty, Frankie,” Gerard pointed out.  
“Really?” Frank whined. He opened one wing up, stretching it out behind Gerard, and looked at the end. “Aw, damn. I hate cleaning them.”  
Gerard grinned at the angel-boy’s pout. Frank tucked his wing back in and stuck his tongue out at Gerard.  
“At least mine aren’t as dirty as yours.”  
“Mine aren’t dirty!”  
“Yeah they are! You let them lay on the floor all the time and you never wash ‘em!”  
Gerard looked over his shoulder at his wings, the black leathery appendages stretched out behind him, lying crumpled on the floor.  
“Whatever,” he scoffed. “At least they’re black and no one can tell. Your primaries are all grey now.”  
“My primaries?” Frank asked, eyebrows shooting up.  
“Yeah, the feathers on the end, you know?”  
“Yeah, _I_ know. Why do _you_ know?” Frank asked, a smile spreading over his face.  
“I mean I-” Gerard blushed and examined his hands. “I might’ve looked it up.”  
Frank opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment Mr. Thompson called the class to order.  
“Alright, guys. You all did really well last Wednesday with your meditations. This week, we’re going to continue that, but I’ll also be calling you each out of the room separately to discuss your goals for this class, okay? Excellent, let’s begin.”  
Gerard shifted on his cushion and let his hands fall into his lap. He shut his eyes and exhaled. The class eventually settled into silence.  
He didn’t exactly know what he was supposed to be doing, since he didn’t really have a power to work on, so Gerard just used the time to relax and clear his head.  
Near the end of class, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Gerard opened his eyes to see another student, a girl, smiling at him.  
“You’re up,” she whispered, pointing to an open door behind Mr. Thompson’s desk.  
“Oh, Thanks.” Gerard climbed stiffly to his feet and made his way through the door into a smaller, unused classroom. Mr. Thompson was sitting in a chair with a clipboard on his knee.  
“Come sit, Gerard.”  
Gerard shut the door behind him and walked over to the tiny couch pushed against the wall. His wings got in the way a bit but he didn’t complain.  
“Now, let’s talk a bit about your abilities. Flight is quite obvious, of course. Anything else that you know of?”  
“No, sir.” Gerard hesitated. “Well, actually...”  
“Go on,” Mr. Thompson prompted gently.  
“Well, this other student, Gabe-”  
“Ah yes, Mr. Saporta. You’re not the first student to mention him,” the teacher said with a grin. “What did he have to say about you?”  
“Uh, well. He said I had a latent ability, but it was buried really deep and he couldn’t figure it out. He said it had something to do with my wings?”  
“Do you think you have a latent ability, Gerard? Can you feel anything there?”  
“Well, no. Not really,” Gerard admitted.  
Mr. Thompson smiled. “Alright, we’ll work on that another day then. But you do, in fact, have other abilities beyond flight that you’ve been using this whole time.”  
“Really?” Gerard exclaimed.  
“Oh yes. Do you think a normal person would be able to lug around those huge, heavy wings all day and not get exhausted? Or have the strength and stamina to achieve and maintain flight?”  
“Oh, I.” Gerard blinked. “I never really thought about it before.”  
Mr. Thompson grinned again. “Well, that’s what I want you to focus on for the time being until we can get someone a little more qualified than Mr. Saporta in here to examine you. I want you to try and find the source of your strength and stamina in your mind, so you can explore it and help it grow. Alright?”  
“Yes, sir,” Gerard nodded.  
“Okay, why don’t you send in Mr. Iero on your way out.”  
Gerard stood from the small couch and left the room, heading back towards his cushion. He poked Frank in the knee.  
“Ow, what?”  
“You’re up,” he said softly.  
Frank beamed at him. He climbed down from his desks and went into the other room. Gerard fell back onto his cushion and tried to clear his mind.  
 _Find my inner strength,_ he thought to himself. _Somewhere in my mind...._

“That was so awesome,” Frank gushed as the two boys traversed the hallways, heading for Flight class. “He said it’s definitely something!” Frank skipped. “It took me a few tries, you know? But eventually I got it and Mr. Thompson was really impressed! He said for now I gotta work on my ‘Inner strength and stamina’ whatever that is, but real soon he’ll help me figure out my power!”  
“That’s awesome, Frankie,” Gerard said carefully. He didn’t want to think about the fact that he was apparently so far behind everyone else in the class that he didn’t even have a power to show off.  
Flight class was rough on both boys. Mr. Stevens set them both to work practicing taking off from the floor and hovering a few feet in the air. The first time Gerard tried it he couldn’t get off the ground, being so used to taking a running-jump start. Frank had laughed at him until he had tried it and accidentally veered off course, banging into the wall.  
The pair slumped into the cafeteria, shoulders hunched and wings dragging.  
“Flight class sucks,” Frank moaned when they finally sat at their table. He pushed his tray away and set his head on the table. “I’m sore, what the fuck.”  
“At least you have two free periods after this,” Gerard groaned. “I have Combat class. I hate archery.”  
“Wow, it stinks of self-pity over here,” came a quiet chuckle.  
They looked up as Brendon and Ryan slid into the bench next to them. Bob and Ray appeared a moment later.  
“What are you two girls complaining about?” Bob asked, sticking his fork into a piece of meat.  
“We’re sore, Mr. _I-Don’t-Ever-Get-Hurt-Because-I’m-Invulnerable_ ,” Frank growled.  
“Aw, poor baby,” Bob laughed. “Does the little baby bird’s wings hurt?”  
“Shut up, Bob. Asshole,” Frank muttered.  
“It’ll get better,” Brendon said with his usual smile. “Give it time.”  
“How would you- oh. Yeah, alright, whatever.”  
Gerard couldn’t help but to laugh at Frank with everyone else. Frank threw a slice of tomato at Bob’s head and then stuck his tongue out. “You can’t use your powers against me Bob! It’s against the ruuuuuules!”  
Eventually the boys settled into their food, Ray and Frank still chuckling at Bob’s scowl.  
When lunch ended Frank said he was off to take a nap.  
“Lucky,” whined Gerard.  
“Yeah, yeah,” Frank smiled. “Just go shoot some arrows and I’ll see you after.”  
Gerard pouted but turned towards the gym anyway. He was the first to arrive again, so he just stood awkwardly in the huge room, waiting.  
“Gerard!”  
He spun on the spot and smiled when he saw Bert and his three friends stumble into the room.  
“Hey,” Gerard said as they got closer. “You have a... leaf in your hair?”  
Bert laughed and reached up to pick it out. “We just had Tracking,” he explained. “Out in the woods, you know?”  
“Oh, that sounds awesome,” Gerard said.  
“It is,” Quinn told him. “Except for how we’re still going to have class come rain or shine.”  
“Oh damn,” Gerard sympathized. “At least you don’t have to practice hovering. My wings are freaking killing me.”  
“Ah, that’s tough,” Bert sighed. “But, come on man, you can _fly!_ That’s gotta be so cool!”  
Gerard chuckled. “It _is_ cool, when I’m actually flying. Taking off without a running start or something to jump off of? That just sucks.”  
Bert patted him on the shoulder, grinning. “As soon as you’re cleared to fly outside, you gotta let me see. I’ve never even seen your wings all the way out!”  
Gerard blushed and ducked his head, but extended his wings anyway. It felt good, to stretch them all the way out after the workout they had gotten. Bert and his friends cheered and clapped, making Gerard blush even darker.  
Mr. Green walked in then, chuckling “Alright boys, put way the rulers.”  
Gerard tucked his wings back in and laughed with Bert, Jepha, Quinn, and Dan.  
“Let’s get to it, huh?” Mr. Green asked, heading over to the storage closet to get the targets. “I think we’ll do archery again next week as well, then move on to hand-to-hand combat.” He paused in dragging a target across the floor and grinned at them. “That’s gonna be fun.”  
Gerard made a face and Bert punched him playfully on the shoulder. “I’ll help you Gerard, don’t worry. Come on, let’s go get our bows.”  
Gerard had to admit, by the end of class, that he was actually pretty good at archery. Not as good as Jepha and Dan, or course, but no one was.  
Quinn had a knack for being able to get an almost bulls eye every shot, but only if he had enough time to line it up perfectly. He said it had something to do with vision and balance. Dan was basically a weapons master, so even though it was only his second time handling a bow and arrow, he was already a pro. Jepha had perfect aim and got bulls eye after bulls eye without breaking a sweat. Bert, on the other hand, was struggling. His arrows kept flying too far, soaring over the target and bouncing off the wall. Or falling flat, hitting the floor and skidding across the room.  
“This sucks,” he muttered to Gerard.  
“I don’t think you’re focusing enough, you know? Where are you even aiming?”  
“At the- thing! At the target!” Bert whined, pointing. “Can I watch you do it?”  
Gerard, whose blush had finally faded, turned scarlet again. “Uh, yeah sure.”  
He turned his body so he was lined up correctly, holding his wings back and out, extended so they didn’t get in the way of the bow. He knocked an arrow and lifted up, aiming just above the target. He let go, watching the arrow sail across the gym and stick in the outer edge of the padded circle. He grinned at Bert.  
“That was awesome!” Bert said.  
“You just gotta- Here, let me show you.”  
Bert stood, holding his bow, and Gerard stepped up to move his feet. “And then, just- hold your elbow like this, right? Aim above the target, because the arrow’s gonna drop a bit when you let go, and then just-”  
Bert let go and both boys watched the arrow fly. It stuck with a _thud_ in the target, and Bert let out a cry.  
“Dude!” He turned and high fived Gerard, a huge smile playing over his face. “That was awesome!”  
Gerard laughed. “Good job!”  
Mr. Green approached. “How we doing over here, boys?”  
“Good! Better!” Bert answered excitedly. He smiled at Gerard again and then picked up another arrow. “Betcha I can get a bulls eye by the end of class!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've got a few more chapters until I speed things up a bit.
> 
> Comments, as always, are greatly appreciated.  
> (I post new chapters quicker when I get comments)


	14. In Which Mikey Gets Some Bad News

It was Tuesday night and Frank and Gerard were sitting in their shared room, doing homework. Gerard was laying on his bed, flat out on his stomach with his wings nestled above him. Frank sat at the single desk, sideways on the chair so the backrest didn’t impede his wings.  
They were working on the Geometry assignment they had been given that morning in the class they shared with Ryan and Bert.  
“Are you almost done?” Gerard asked.  
“Yeah, I got like two questions left.”  
“You wanna do that History paper after?”  
“Sure.”  
They lapsed into silence for awhile. The only sound in the room was the scratching of pencils on paper and the turning of textbook pages. Suddenly the door flew open.  
“What the-?” Frank cried, jumping to his feet.  
Mikey ran in and sprinted over to Gerard, tears streaming down his face.  
 _Gee!_  
Gerard struggled to his feet and grabbed Mikey to his chest. Mikey hugged him and flickered out of view.  
“Mikey, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Gerard asked frantically, patting his younger brother’s invisible head.  
Mikey didn’t say anything, just continued to cry into Gerard’s shirt. Frank stood by the desk, unsure what he should do.  
“He’s not hurt,” came a morose voice by the door. The two older boys looked up to see Pete standing there, his arms crossed tight against his chest.  
“Then what the hell happened?” Frank asked before Gerard could open his mouth.  
Pete made a face, eyes flicking over where Mikey was huddled against Gerard, invisible and sobbing. “They’re gonna make him talk.”  
“What? Who?” Gerard gasped. _Mikey what’s going on?_  
 _They- they- they pulled me out of art class!_ Mikey gasped, letting the whole room hear him. _And put me in a speech therapy class! I don’t wanna talk, Gee! It’s not fair!_  
“Oh, Mikey.” Gerard sank to his knees and hugged the skinny boy tight. “Did you tell them you don’t want to?”  
 _They wouldn’t let me! None of the teachers will let me talk to them in their heads!_  
“I tried to help,” Pete said, staring at his shoes. “But they said it’s ‘For his own good’.”  
“Well, that’s just stupid!” Frank scoffed. Gerard sent him a warning look, then focused back on the place where Mikey’s face should have been.  
 _Mikey,_ he said gently. _I know you don’t like to talk, but when you get older, less and less people are going to let you in their heads, and you won’t always have someone to translate for you._  
 _But Gee-!_  
 _I know, Mikey. But you don’t have to talk in that class right away if you don’t want to. You can come talk to me and Frank first and get used to it, okay? We’ll help you._  
 _I... I guess that’s alright._ Mikey said, still invisible. _But what if I sound weird? What if people make fun of me?_  
 _Aw, Mikey, no one’s gonna make fun of you! I’ve heard you talk before and you sounded fine, I promise._ Gerard looked up at Frank and Pete, who were watching the silent exchange. “You guys won’t make fun of Mikey for talking, right?”  
“Of course not!” Pete said, stepping forward and dropping his hands to his side. “I’d like to hear you talk, Mikey.”  
“Yeah Mikey, no one’s gonna make fun of you,” Frank agreed. “I bet your voice sounds even better than Gerard’s”  
“See?” Gerard smiled, hands on Mikey’s invisible shoulders. “Whenever you’re ready you can come to any one of us and just start talking, okay?”  
They heard Mikey wipe his face on his sleeve and sniff. _I guess so..._ he muttered to Gerard before opening back up to Pete and Frank. _Thanks guys._  
Gerard smiled as Mikey flickered back into sight. Pete walked over and held his hand out.  
“Come on, Mikey, let’s go back to our room and I’ll show you that blue flame I’m working on.”  
Mikey chuckled weakly and grabbed Pete’s wrist, letting the tan boy lead him from the room. Frank shut the door after them.  
“Makes me kinda glad I don’t have any little brothers or sisters,” he grinned.  
Gerard shrugged. “I knew he’d have to start talking again some day.”  
Frank watched Gerard sit back on his bed, then walked over and joined him, sitting on the opposite end. “When was the last time he talked to you?”  
“Well, he laughs out loud sometimes, but other than that? God, I dunno. Maybe when he was like... seven years old?”  
“He hasn’t said a word in four years?” Frank gaped.  
“Well, it’s just easier for him, you know?” Gerard shrugged. “Talking telepathically just makes more sense to him. It’d be like us having wings and never flying. It’s just his thing.”  
“Yeah, we didn’t give up walking though,” Frank said.  
Gerard poked him in the shoulder. “Right, like you didn’t fly everywhere for a month straight after you figured it out.”  
Frank laughed. “Guilty. It was just so _cool_. Especially after having wings for so long and having them be useless.”  
“True. At least yours had feathers, mine were all wrinkly and awkward.”  
“Ah, I bet they looked cute on you,” Frank giggled.  
Gerard blushed and ducked his head. He became suddenly aware of how close Frank was sitting next to him. On his _bed_.  
“I, uh- We should probably get back to our homework, huh?” Gerard blurted out.  
Frank grinned at him and jumped up, leaving behind two small, fluffy feathers. “Sure thing.”

Gerard laid awake that night, listening to Frank’s little snores. He thought about how creepy it was to have a crush on his roommate and how Frank would probably freak out if he knew.  
Mikey had teased him about it relentlessly during the first few days of school until Gerard told him to butt out and mind his own damn business. Mikey hadn’t talked to him for a whole afternoon afterwards.  
Gerard sighed and wished for the millionth time in his life that he could lay on his back. Instead he flipped over onto his stomach and glanced across the dark room. Frank’s bright wings glowed softly and Gerard kind of wanted to touch. But, no. _That would be creepy_ , he told himself.  
He sighed and shut his eyes, willing himself to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's another Brendon chapter after this!  
> This story is going to be incredibly long, if you haven't guessed already. There's just so much to write that sometimes I forget to move the plot along!
> 
> Are there any characters (besides Gerard, Pete, Mikey, Ryan, Brendon, Frank or Bert) that you would like me try to write from their p.o.v.? Any of the students or teachers I've already introduced?  
> Leave me a comment telling me who and why!


	15. In Which Brendon Spells It Out

Brendon sits patiently on the tiny couch in the spare room next to his Meditation class. He’s not nervous, exactly, just curious. He’s hopeful that he’ll be able to meditate without being in a daze for the rest of the day.  
Brendon has almost no memory of last Tuesday. He remembers going to breakfast and getting to Meditation class, but after that it’s all a blur. Ryan had flushed dark red when Brendon had asked about it, saying only that he needed Mr. Thompson’s help to come back to himself and that he was really confused after.  
“Like, you didn’t know what day it was and you thought you had already walked me to class a dozen times and... Stuff, you know?”  
Brendon had sat out of their last Meditation class while Mr. Thompson interviewed the other students, but today’s class was set aside for him.  
The rest of the class was already meditating when the door finally opens and Mr. Thompson and another teacher walk in carrying a clipboard.  
The unknown teacher is short and round with dark brown hair and eyes. He smiles at Brendon as he sits in a chair across from him.  
“Brendon,” says Mr. Thompson, “This is Mr. Davies. He’s going to work with you today, alright?  
Brendon nods and Mr. Thompson returns to his classroom.  
Mr. Davies smiles at Brendon again, wider this time. “Hello, Brendon. It’s nice to meet you.”  
“It’s nice to meet you too, sir,” Brendon smiles back.  
“Now, today we’re going to be trying two things that will help you grow your power without getting lost in it. First off, I want you to take this,” he passes Brendon the clipboard with paper and a pen, “And close your eyes and write _Hello, my name is Brendon and I can see the future._ ”  
Brendon does as he’s told, then looks at the results. The words are messy and uneven, but legible.  
“Perfect,” says Mr. Davies. “Now, when you meditate I want you to try to write down as much of what you’re seeing as possible. The more often you practice, the easier it’ll get.” He stands up and grabs a book off the small desk across from their seats. “This,” he says, handing the book to Brendon, “Is a book on shorthand that I’m going to lend you. It’s not homework, you don’t _have_ to learn it, but if you do, it’ll make this whole process a lot quicker and simpler.”  
Brendon takes the book and flips through it, studying the little squiggles and dots. He thinks that maybe he’s seen some of these shapes before, in dreams. “I’ll learn it,” he assures the smiling teacher.  
“The second thing we need to work on, is making sure you don’t get dragged under by your own visions when you meditate. It’d be very easy for you to lose yourself and drift for hours or days just seeing into the future. Again, it’s going to take time to perfect, but I want you to focus on your body when you meditate. Concentrate on your physical form so you have an anchor to guide you back.” Mr. Davies shifts into a more comfortable position. “Now, start your meditations and we’ll see where we get today.”  
Brendon sets the shorthand book aside. “Uh, sir, I couldn’t do it last time until Ryan helped.”

Ryan takes a deep breath, then slowly releases it. He can practically taste the emotions of the other students around him.  
A girl in the corner and the blissful calm she gets from being underwater.  
A boy in front of him and the serenity and sense of well being he gets from the moon.  
A boy in the back row, struggling with the frequent fear he feels over the possibility of hurting someone with his claws.  
Ryan’s shy calm isn’t enough to keep them all at bay, not to mention the overwhelming ball of excitement and nerves that is Brendon in the next room over. He isn’t experienced enough to block emotions yet, so he just focuses on filling himself with his own calm, stretching and multiplying it.  
A few minutes later he feels the assured confidence and kindness, with a touch of pride that is Mr. Thompson cross the room towards him. Ryan opens his eyes and Mr. Thompson smiles at him.  
“Can we borrow you for a moment to help Brendon?” he whispers.  
“Sure.”  
Ryan follows Mr. Thompson into the spare room. Brendon is sitting near a short, round man. Brendon has a clipboard in his lap and a smile on his face.  
“Ryan? I’m Mr. Davies. Brendon told me you helped him mediate in your first class?”  
The man is emitting curiosity as his strongest emotion, so Ryan knows he’s not in trouble for helping.  
“Yes, sir. I helped him relax.”  
“Do you think you could do it again?”  
“Sure.”  
Ryan moves across the room to sit next to Brendon on the small couch.  
“Hey Ryan,” Brendon beams.  
Ryan bites back a chuckle. “Hey Brendon.”  
Both boys settle into their meditative postures and shut their eyes. Ryan reaches over to set his hand against Brendon’s arm. He takes a breath and lets his calm flow over their connection, drowning and extinguishing the excitement and nerves. He hears Brendon let out a little sigh. They remain like that for a few minutes until Mr. Thompson says his name.  
“Thank you, Ryan. You can return to class now.”  
Ryan stands and walks toward the door. He pauses with his hand on the doorknob and looks back at Brendon.  
Mr. Thompson and Mr. Davies both have their eyes trained on the precog as Brendon’s hand flies across the paper in front of him, his eyes shut and face relaxed. After a moment his hand stills and his forehead creases up.  
“Focus, Brendon. Find your body,” mutters Mr. Davies.  
The boy’s face smooths out and he begins to write again. Ryan grins to himself and leaves the room.

Brendon blinks his eyes open and looks up into the smiling faces of Mr. Thompson and Mr. Davies.  
“Did it work?” he asks, hardly slurring at all.  
“Well, you’re here right now without our help, so I’d say so,” answers Mr. Davies.  
“Really? I don’t remember how I got back.”  
“You did it, regardless,” Mr. Thompson tells him.  
“Now, Brendon, we still think it would be a good idea for you to hold off on private meditation for now,” says Mr. Davies. “You’ll practice twice a week in here until Mr. Thompson feels you’re in control enough to meditate in your room. Okay?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
“I also want you to save all the paper you use, but don’t leave them lying around, alright? I’m not going to ask you what you wrote, because it’s none of my business, but try and decipher it the best you can.”  
Brendon drops his eyes to the clipboard to see that every inch of the paper is covered in chicken scratch and childish little drawings. “Oh,” he says.  
“I actually didn’t think you’d get it right away,” Mr. Thompson says. “You’re very talented, Brendon.”  
“He’s right,” agrees Mr. Davies. “That’s a tough thing to accomplish, you should be proud of yourself.”  
“Thank you,” Brendon beams.  
The bell rings and Brendon jumps up, taking the paper and shorthand book with him. Ryan’s waiting for him in the classroom and they leave together.  
“How’d it go?” Ryan asked softly.  
“Really great, apparently! I don’t remember much of what I did different this time, but I guess it worked.”  
They stop outside the door to Ryan’s Geometry class.  
“That’s awesome,” Ryan says. He blushes a bit, and Brendon doesn’t know why, but thinks he looks cute with pink on his cheeks. “So... I’ll see you at lunch?”  
“Yeah, I’ll save you a seat.”  
“Thanks.” Ryan drops his eyes and smiles, ducking into the classroom before the next bell can ring.  
Brendon walks slowly up to his and Ryan’s room, nose buried in his book. Shorthand looks interesting, he thinks, and he can’t wait to start learning it. He only walks a few doors passed his before he chuckles and retraces his steps. He shuts the door behind him and plops down on his bed.  
Brendon unfolds the paper in his hand and looks it over. At first, nothing is legible. He focuses on the pictures.  
One looks like the cab company symbol that’s been popping up in his dreams recently. Another looks like a flower. He spots a messy “R” next to one of the petals and looks closer. It takes him a second to figure it out, but it’s Ryan’s name.  
Brendon blushes, even though there’s no one in the room. His eyes jump to the upper right hand corner, and he spots Ryan’s name again. He looks at center of the page, and sees it again. He blushes harder.  
“Oh, Brendon...” he mutters into the silent room. “You’re in deep.”  
He flips the paper over, dates it, then folds it in half and slides it under his mattress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are the best thing ever XD


	16. In Which The Boys Take A Day Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> Art created by [FrankiesMeow](http://frankiesmeow.tumblr.com/)  
> 

October crept up on Gerard. He laid in bed on the first morning of his second month at school and thought about just how much had happened in the last four weeks.  
His classes were getting more and less difficult in certain respects. His basic subjects, like math and science, were getting more complicated and he was starting to think that maybe Frank was right and the world did expect more of them. On the other hand, their Flight classes were getting much easier. Now that the boys had started to exercise on a regular basis and work with muscles they had never used, their flying skills had rapidly gotten better. Even Combat class wasn’t as hard as Gerard had originally thought it would be. Hand to hand fighting wasn’t scary the way Bert taught it and Gerard, after four classes, was starting to get the hang of it. The only classes he still really struggled in were Physics and Meditation. Frank, on the other hand, was excelling with his meditation.  
Gerard glanced over to where Frank was lying, still asleep and gently snoring. The angel-winged boy was now able to conjure his strange white light whenever he wanted, just by snapping his fingers once. They still didn’t know what it was, but that didn’t put a damper on Frank’s excitement or willingness to show it off to whoever was around.  
Gerard wished he had something like that to show off, but whatever his latent power was, it refused to make itself known. Instead, Gerard focused on his strength and stamina in Meditation class and had discovered a hidden reserve of power in his mind. He tapped into it during Flight class frequently, when Mr. Stevens really pushed them in their training. He was thankful for it, as it helped him stay in the air longer than he had ever been able to before. His wings didn’t ache so much anymore, and he was even starting to see a bit of muscle definition in his chest and stomach that he was very proud of but didn’t show off the way Frank did.  
Gerard eventually rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom. It was Saturday, so they didn’t have to rush through breakfast to get to class. When he returned to their room, he saw that Frank was still asleep.  
“Frank,” he muttered, rubbing his eyes. “Frankie, breakfast.”  
“Five more minutes,” Frank grumbled back at him.  
“Come on Frank, we have flight clearance, don’t you wanna go outside?”  
“Oh shit, yeah, I forgot!” And just like that Frank was bounding out of bed and into the bathroom.  
Gerard was dressed by the time Frank returned, and he turned his back so Frank could pull on a pair of jeans.  
“Come on, come on, let’s go!” Frank cried, grabbing Gerard by the wrist and hauling him out into the hallway.  
The cafeteria always filled slowly on the weekends, so the line for food wasn’t too long. They made their way towards their usual table, that had now become two tables as their group of friends expanded. Ryan had met two boys in his Equestrian class, Jon and Spencer, who now sat with them, and the eight of them couldn’t really fit in one booth. Gerard and Frank took their trays and sat on their chairs at the end of the table where Ray and Bob were sitting. Bob was eating while Ray worked on what looked like a three foot wide plane.  
“What’s that?” Frank asked, picking up an apple.  
“Class project,” Ray answered. “It’s due on Thursday and I wanna test it out later.”  
“You gonna join us in the sky, Toro?” Frank chuckled.  
“You guys got clearance?”  
“Yup!”  
Brendon and Ryan showed up then and sat at the table next to theirs. They both looked exhausted.  
“Couldn’t sleep?” Gerard asked.  
“Someone on the floor below us had a nightmare,” Ryan answered. “It kept me up.”  
“That’s shitty,” Ray said. “What about you, Brendon?”  
Brendon yawned. “The night-writing is getting ridiculous.” He pulled up his long sleeves to show them his arms, covered in signs and symbols, written in marker.  
“They still won’t let you meditate before bed?” Gerard asked, concerned.  
“Not until I can remember how to find my way back on my own,” he sighed. “I dunno, it’s stupid.”  
“Well, hey,” Frank piped up. “We’re going outside after breakfast to fly, and Ray’s gonna try out his plane thing, you guys should come.”  
“Maybe,” Ryan yawned.

It was a gorgeous day out and Gerard was still getting used to the southern weather. Frank basked in the rays of sun, his already tan skin getting darker each time they went out. As fascinated as he had been with shirts for a few weeks, he eventually decided that he liked being bare-chested better. Bob teased him endlessly about it, but Gerard didn’t mind.  
Frank ran off almost the second they left the courtyard. He took off running, tucking his arms in and flapping frantically. Ray cheered when he left the ground.  
“You gonna follow him?” Bob asked, watching Frank get smaller and smaller as he gained height.  
“In a second, I wanna see Ray’s plane.”  
Ray smiled at him and set the large model plane on the grass. He pulled a remote out of his bag.  
“So, what class is this for?” Gerard asked.  
“Engineering.” He put one hand below the remote and another on top.  
Gerard watched as a little green light flicked on at the top of the remote, and another on the plane a second later. Ray squinted at the remote and the dials started moving by themselves. The plane started up, engine rumbling and propeller spinning. It started moving, Ray controlling it with his power via the remote, and soon took off.  
“That’s awesome!” Gerard cheered.  
“Watch out for Frank,” Bob cautioned.  
Ray got an evil smile on his face.  
Gerard and Bob watched as Ray turned the plane toward Frank, chasing after him and forcing him to do loops and dives to avoid the metal object.  
“You keep that thing away from me, you hear?” Gerard threatened jokingly, opening his wings and setting off at jog. A few moments later he took to the air and ascended to where Frank was flying.  
“Hey, what the fuck?” he called as he swooped past, pursued by Ray’s plane. Gerard couldn’t help but to crack up.  
Frank batted at the plane, almost hitting it before Ray made it take a sharp turn and go after Gerard. He tucked his wings in and dived, narrowly missing the sharp propellers.  
“Take that!” Frank yelled, laughing. The plane turned again and started chasing Frank.

Forty five minutes later, the group of boys trooped back into the school. Ray was thrilled with the performance of his plane, Gerard and Frank were sweaty and tired. Bob thought they were all ridiculous.  
“Boys!”  
They all turned to see Gabe and his friends striding up to them.  
“Caught the show, very nice,” Gabe purred  
“Thanks!” Frank piped up, smiling. Gabe returned the smile and Gerard wasn’t sure how he felt about it.  
“I’ve missed you at our little get-togethers,” Gabe said, smile falling into a pout. “Did you find something better to do?”  
“Gerard doesn’t like parties,” Frank provided.  
“That’s a shame,” William said, eyes roving over the pair of them.  
“You should start coming again, we’ve narrowed down the quest list quite significantly,” Gabe told him.  
“Uh, maybe,” Gerard answered before Frank could accept.  
Victoria joined the conversation suddenly. “Ray, your plane is very impressive,” she said with a flutter of her eyelashes.  
Ray blushed. “Thanks! I worked really hard on it.”  
“I can tell,” she smiled.  
“Well,” Gabe said, “You’re all invited over tonight, I hope you’ll be there.”  
They walked away after that, leaving Gerard and his friends standing in the hallway.  
“So, you wanna go tonight?” Frank asked, turning to Gerard.  
“Not really,” he admitted with a shrug. “You can go if you want though, I’ll just hang out in our room or see what Bert’s up to or something.”  
“Well, I mean. It wouldn’t be any fun without you, Gee,” Frank said, insistent. “I’ll stay with you, we can work on homework or something.”  
“Yeah, alright.”

 

On the other side of the school, Brendon and Ryan were sitting together in a secluded section of the school’s giant library. Ryan was researching for Psychology class, but Brendon was Googling cab companies.  
“Does it matter that much to you?” Ryan whispered after a while, looking up from his notes.  
“It keeps popping up, you know? Every time I meditate, every time I sleep, it always shows up in my writings. I just wanna figure it out.”  
“I thought you liked to wait for things to play out?” Ryan asked, leaning close to look at the screen of Brendon’s laptop.  
“Normally, yeah, but this just feels important, you know? I just can’t place it.”


	17. In Which Mikey Makes Some Progress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternatively titled "In Which Spencer Is Michaela's Spirit Animal" XD

Brendon sat at a table in the library on Wednesday afternoon with Ryan, Spencer, and Jon. Jon’s gray cat was sleeping on a book Brendon needed but he didn’t want to wake her up, so instead of studying he devoted his free period to copying the shorthand and pictures on his arms down to paper.  
Jon and Spencer had fallen in with Brendon and Ryan easily, as Brendon had known they would. Ryan fell in love with Jon’s cat and always let the gray animal curl up in his lap. Brendon didn’t know the cat’s name, because apparently she liked to change it often and only let Jon know if she thought it was important. Jon was able to talk to and influence animals of all sorts, though he said cats were harder to give directions to. Ryan was honored that the cat liked him and he would spend his free time petting her and trading the barest, most basic emotions back and forth.  
“I haven’t figured out the horses yet,” Ryan had told Brendon with a smile, “But I’m working on it.”  
Spencer, on the other hand, was growing increasingly frustrated with Brendon. The first time Brendon had met them for real, Ryan had brought the two boys over to where he was sitting in the courtyard to introduce them, and Brendon had looked right up to greet Spencer.  
“How did you do that?” Spencer asked, looking annoyed.  
“Do what?” asked Ryan, looking between Brendon and Spencer.  
“He looked right at me! I was sneaking, people aren’t supposed to know I’m there until I let them.”  
Spencer, it turned out, had enhanced spy skills. Brendon could always see him coming though, and they had turned it into a mutually un-discussed game. Spencer always tried to sneak up on Brendon at the weirdest times and would then get more and more pissed every time Brendon would simply turn around and say “Hi Spencer!”  
Brendon was kind of grateful for the buffer Jon and Spencer provided. Things had started to get... weird between Ryan and Brendon, and it made him nervous. He knew that they would end up together eventually, he was sure of that, but in the meantime he didn’t quite know how to act around Ryan. Every time he walked Ryan to class after Meditation, Ryan gave him a weird look and a blush before disappearing into the classroom. Their muttered goodnights made Brendon’s stomach flip, the same way he felt every morning seeing Ryan’s hair messy from sleep.  
He hadn’t Seen when the first move would be made, so he was afraid to actually go for it. He decided to just wait until he saw it, _then_ do something about it. Until that time he would just enjoy the little looks into their future relationship and keep his mouth shut.  
Brendon paused in decoding the symbols on his arm to purse his lips.  
“Hmm....”  
“What?” Jon whispered. Spencer looked up at him, but Ryan continued writing.  
“Mikey’s coming, he wants to talk to me,” Brendon said, looking up to scan the bookshelves around them.  
“About what?” Spencer questioned.  
“Personal, I think.”  
Ryan looked up at that. “You want us to give you guys some space?”  
“Um... I think so. Maybe?” Brendon let out a breath. “I think... Yeah. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”  
Jon and Spencer started packing up their things and headed for the lunch room early, the cat trailing after them. Ryan lingered.  
“Um, I’ll see you at lunch?” he asked in a meek voice.  
Brendon smiled at him. “Sure.”  
“Okay.” Ryan turned and followed Jon and Spencer out. He smiled at Mikey when he passed him in the door.  
Brendon copied down a few more symbols while Mikey walked up to him. The boy sat without hesitation but Brendon didn’t acknowledge him right away.  
“H- hey, Brendon.”  
Brendon smiled at his notebook then looked up. “Hey, Mikey. How’s it going?”  
“All, um, alright. Y- you?”  
Mikey was blushing, so Brendon looked back down to his notebook.  
“I’m good. I’m writing down the things I saw in my sleep so I can take a shower after lunch, you know?”  
“How c-come, you, uh.” Mikey cleared his throat as softly as possible. “How, uh.” He sniffed and finished the sentence telepathically. _How come you write on yourself?_  
“Well, I learned to write while I meditate, so I don’t forget the things I see, but the problem is I See in my sleep too. I used to just write down whatever I remembered in the morning, but now I’ve started writing while I sleep without meaning too.”  
“But it- it’s all,” _Just weird symbols._  
“It’s shorthand, so I can write more with less effort. Mr. Davies gave me a book on it.”  
“It’s- That’s cool.” _You get to see more stuff now, right?_  
“I can remember more of it, yeah.” Brendon looked up at Mikey, who was staring steadily at the table top. The memory of Brendon saving Gerard’s life in Combat class came back to Mikey.  
“Do you, uh, get- get-”  
“Sick?” Brendon finished for him.  
Mikey nodded.  
He had pushed into Brendon’s head after he left the gym that day and Brendon carefully did _not_ think about what he had seen in his vision, so Mikey wouldn’t have to see it. Unfortunately, Mikey stuck around long enough to watch Brendon run to the closest toilet and throw up.  
 _Are you okay?_ Mikey had asked desperately.  
 _Fine, I’m fine._ Brendon had told him, spitting into the toilet to get the taste out of his mouth. _It’s just, sometimes, when the visions are really intense or- or violent-_  
 _You throw up?_  
 _Yeah._  
“I haven’t gotten sick in a while,” Brendon said, blinking away the memory and dropping his eyes to his notebook. “It’s mostly been like, stupid day to day stuff. Nothing big.”  
 _Well, that’s._ Mikey stopped and cleared his throat again. “That’s. That’s good.”  
Brendon smiled. “How are your classes going?”  
“Fine, they’re- they-” he stopped and tapped his fingers on the table. “F- fine.”  
“I’m glad.”  
“I... Thanks.”  
Mikey jumped up and left the library, stumbling a little. Brendon was honored that Mikey trusted him enough to talk to him. He didn’t even know if Mikey had talked to Gerard yet, so he decided not to bring it up to anyone until Mikey mentioned it.

 

Mikey rushed out of the library and straight up to his room. He jumped onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow. He couldn’t breathe and his throat was sore. Talking was stupid, he decided. It was awkward and awful. The words in his head got stuck somewhere on the trip to his mouth and made him stumble and stutter.  
He pushed his face further into the pillow and opened his mind.  
 _Pete?_  
 _What’s up, Mikey?_ came Pete’s immediate response.  
 _Can I talk to you?_  
 _Sure, what’s going on?_  
 _No, I mean, like, actually talk._  
Mikey scrunched up his face nervously.  
 _Are you in our room? I’ll be right up!_  
Mikey rolled over and sat up, patting his hair down and gulping. His face was still hot, but he tried his best to ignore it.  
He felt Pete when he got close, jogging up the hallway and dodging around people on their way to lunch. He burst into their bedroom and snapped the door shut behind him. The momentary silence in the room was deafening.  
“Pete,” Mikey finally muttered.  
Pete launched himself across the room and tackled Mikey in a hug that sent them both sprawling.  
“You talked! Mikey, that’s awesome!” Pete rushed to sit back up and pull his hands away from Mikey, just in case, but he continued to beam.  
“I, I sound- sound stupid,” Mikey murmured, sitting up again and staring at his knees.  
“No you don’t, you sound great!” Pete insisted.  
“It’s- their- the words are. It’s, it’s hard to- to.”  
“I get it,” Pete reassured him. “It’ll get easier, you know? The more you practice and stuff. Your Speech Therapy teacher will help you and you can practice with me whenever you want.”  
Mikey flushed darker and looked up at Pete, who was grinning at him with his fingers woven together in his lap.  
“Thanks.”


	18. In Which The Boys Get Lost In The Woods

“This sucks,” Dan whined, wiping mud from his hands onto his jeans.  
Quinn glanced up at the cloud cover through the treetops. “I can’t even tell what time it is... Can’t see the sun.”  
Bert stopped walking and hunched over, hands on his knees. “I think we’re lost, guys.”  
Jepha dropped onto a stump and sighed. He pulled a throwing knife out of his boot and flipped it over in his hand a few times. “Should we give up?”  
Dan scoffed. “And write a ten page paper on where we went wrong? Yeah, right.”

Their Tracking teacher had abandoned them in the middle of the wild forest on the school grounds.  
“I trust you boys were paying attention on the walk out here,” Mrs. Kozlov had said with a smirk. “Because your task today is to get back to the school before the end of lunch.”  
“Wait, what?” Quinn asked.  
“Good luck!” she said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.  
“Ah, son of a bitch!” Jepha shouted, jumping forward to grab at the smoke. His hand passed through it and they watched as it dissipated.  
The boys turned to look at each other, then the clouds opened and it started to drizzle.

“So, we’re fucked,” Jepha sighed.  
“Quinny, which way’s the wind going?” Bert asked, looking up into the trees.  
“South-East,” Quinn answered. Bert raised his eyebrows and Quinn pointed. “That way.”  
Bert stood up straight and turned around a few times. “It was hitting me from the right when we entered the woods... And if it hasn’t changed too much since the rain started....”  
“Shit, you’re right,” Jepha laughed, jumping to his feet. “We want to be going... Like, this way?” he said, pointing.  
Quinn patted Bert on the shoulder as the four boys started off again. The forest had to have been created by the school, Bert thought, it was way too wild and green for Colorado. The trees were tall and dark and the ground was littered with boulders and moss. They’d even spotted a herd of deer once.  
“I think we’re missing lunch,” Dan spoke up eventually, climbing over a fallen tree.  
“If we weren’t on a tight schedule, I’d say we could hunt,” Jepha sighed. “But if lunch is going on now, we’ve got about 30 minutes to make it back.”  
Quinn climbed up the fallen tree and turned carefully. “I can smell rotten apples.”  
“Right on, Quinn,” Dan applauded. “Let’s grab some quick and get back before Combat class.”  
The boys veered off their course to follow Quinn as he guided them towards the scent. Quinn’s power was probably the most valuable out in the forest, Bert thought. His enhanced senses had saved their asses more times in the last month that Bert cared to think about.  
They eventually came to a clearing filled with knee high grass. In the center stood a tall tree filled with apples. They paused on the edge of the clearing.  
“Trap, do you think?” Dan asked warily.  
Jepha flipped his knife around and then threw it so it stuck hard in the tree truck. Nothing happened.  
“I don’t hear any snakes... or machinery,” Quinn added. “The only thing I can smell is the rotten apples on the ground.”  
“So, who wants to go first?” Bert asked. He turned to look at his friends, rolling his eyes when he realized they were all touching their noses. “Bastards,” Bert muttered.  
He took a slow, cautious step out into the grass, then let out a breath. He took another step, then another. When he was halfway to the tree he turned to his friends.  
“I think we’re good.”  
The other boys rushed forward. Bert helped Quinn climb up into the branches to reach the fresh apples while Jepha and Dan used Jepha’s knife to knock the small fruit down. They each grabbed two, then headed back to their trail, making sure the wind was hitting their left side and eating while they walked.  
Ten minutes later, Quinn stopped suddenly.  
“You hear that?” he asked softly.  
“No,” Bert, Dan, and Jepha answered together.  
“I can hear people talking, and smell concrete.” Quinn smiled at the rest of them. “We’re almost there!”  
The four boys took off in a race, each trying to get to the edge of the forest first. They cheered when they broke through the trees and stumbled onto the short grass of the school’s field.  
“Holy shit, we did it!” Dan cried. They all high fived and hugged.  
“And only 32 minutes late,” came a voice.  
They looked up to see Mrs. Kozlov grinning at them, arms crossed over her chest.  
“Honestly, you did better than I expected,” she said. “The wind was a nice touch, Bert. And Quinn, good job with the apples.”  
Bert and Quinn smiled at each other.  
“On Wednesday you’ll skip breakfast and arrive at this spot at 5am on the dot. We’ll be learning how to put together a suitable meal in the wilderness. Now, you better hurry on to class. Good day.” And then she was gone again.  
“Fuck, 5am,” Jepha groaned.  
“Come on, let’s go,” Quinn sighed. “We’ve only got like 20 minutes of Combat left.”  
“Poor Gerard,” Bert said as they started walking across the field. “All alone with Mr. Green. Most awkward Combat class ever.”  
“You’ve got such a crush,” Dan laughed.  
“Do not.”  
“You so do,” Jepha claimed.  
“Not like it matters, I think he’s with that angel-kid, Frank,” Bert countered.  
“He’s not,” Quinn said. “But Frank’s completely gone for Gerard.”  
“How do you know?” Bert asked, quirking an eyebrow at his friend.  
Quinn shrugged. “I hear shit.”  
“Well, damn,” Bert laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments make new chapters appear faster, it's a scientific fact :P


	19. In Which Gerard Figures It Out

It was past midnight, but Gerard and Frank couldn’t sleep.  
“I hate the full moon,” Gerard whined for the hundredth time that night. “I can never sleep when it’s, you know.”  
“Full?” Frank asked wearily.  
“Yeah.”  
They lapsed into silence again, facing each other from across the dark room, wings nestled up on top of them.  
“You ever wish you could like, lay on your back?” Frank asked after a while.  
“All the time,” Gerard groaned. He shifted slightly, but his wings kept him from turning over.  
“They should invent beds for us,” Frank muttered. “With like, wing holes in the mattress.”  
“Wing holes sounds so gross,” Gerard said. They both started giggling.  
Frank sat up after a moment. “You wanna see something cool?” he asked.  
Gerard sat up as well. “Sure.”  
Frank raised a hand up in front of him and snapped. Gerard had seen him do it a hundred times before, but he still watched with rapt attention.  
“It’s so cool, Frankie,” he whispered as a small white light appeared above Frank’s thumb, lighting the room with it’s glow.  
“That’s not the cool bit yet, Gerard,” Frank whispered back.  
Gerard watched silently as Frank focused on the white light. It started to flicker in an oddly familiar way, growing as it did.  
“What are you doing to it?”  
“What does it look like?” Frank asked softly.  
“It... It looks like a little flame.”  
“Yeah.”  
They both watched the small white flame flickering. Gerard expected to hear it crackle like a real flame, but it remained completely silent.  
“But it’s not fire,” Gerard eventually said.  
“Nope. Mr. Thompson said that it only takes this form because that’s what I expected it to look like.”  
Gerard was far too tired to try and figure out Mr. Thompson’s ramblings about the nature of their powers. “Huh?”  
Frank smiled at him, the white flame causing weird shadows to form on his face.  
“He said I thought it was gonna be a flame, so that’s what I got.”  
“But it’s not?”  
“Nope. He said it’s just light, not fire.”  
“Can you make it do other stuff?” Gerard asked, leaning forward on his mattress.  
“I haven’t tried yet,” Frank admitted.  
“You should. Try a circle,” Gerard suggested.  
Frank narrowed his eyes and glared at the flickering little light. After a few seconds it ceased to flicker. Gerard thought it was about to go out, but it didn’t dim. Slowly, ever so slowly, the small flame rounded out and grew still, until Frank had a perfect sphere hovering an inch above his thumb.  
“Wow,” Gerard uttered.  
“I didn’t know I could do that,” Frank said softly, a slight giggle in his tone.  
“Frankie, that’s so cool.” Gerard stood from his mattress slowly and crossed the room. He knelt down at the side of Frank’s bed and raised a hesitant finger.  
“Can I touch?” he whispered.  
“I dunno,” Frank answered.  
Gerard eased his hand forward gently, until his fingertip brushed the light.  
“It’s hot, like... really hot. But not enough to burn, I think.”  
“Really?” Frank asked, in awe.  
“Can you make it bigger?”  
Frank’s forehead creased as he focused on the light again. Gerard drew his hand away and watched the tiny circle expand to about three inches across.  
Gerard raised his hand again and tapped against the shimmering ball. It didn’t make any sound. “It’s not as hot now.”  
“It’s like,” Frank started. “I can’t-”  
The light disappeared in a flash, causing Gerard to jump backward and land on his heels. Frank slumped over onto his bed.  
“Frank!” Gerard jumped up and grabbed the smaller boy’s shoulders. “Frankie, you okay?”  
“M’just tired,” Frank murmured. “Took a lot outta me.”  
Gerard tried to blink away the after image of Frank’s light enough to actually see Frank’s face. By the time he could see him, Frank was already asleep.  
Gerard smiled and rolled Frank onto his stomach so his wings wouldn’t hurt in the morning. The soft jostle woke Frank.  
“You’re really cool, Gee. I like you,” he slurred sleepily.  
Gerard’s face burned red in the darkness of their room.  
“Thanks Frankie. I like you too,” Gerard muttered back.  
“Really like you,” Frank added, reaching up to touch Gerard’s hand.  
Frank’s skin always seemed to run hotter than the rest of their friends and now Gerard was thinking maybe it was because of whatever that bright light was, all stored up in Frank’s body.  
“G’night Frankie,” Gerard said with small smile. He put Frank’s hand back on his bed and turned away, crossing the room and climbing into his own bed.  
He looked over at Frank once more before he shut his eyes.  
The boy’s wings seemed to glow brighter than before in the darkness. Gerard smiled and drifted off to sleep.

 

Brendon appeared at Gerard’s shoulder after their English class the next day, falling into step beside him easily with Ryan tagging along a step behind.  
“So,” Brendon started. “Tomorrow is Frank’s birthday.”  
“What?” Gerard asking, eyes widening. “He didn’t tell me that!”  
“He didn’t tell me either,” Brendon said, putting a thumb to his nose briefly. Ryan chuckled behind them. “Normally I wouldn’t say anything, right?” Brendon continued as they walked towards the cafeteria. “But, I’m seeing two conflicting futures.”  
“So you decided to intervene?” Gerard guessed.  
“Only a little. The thing is, one choice leads to a great place, the other keeps you on this same path. Neither one is bad, just one is better than the other.”  
“Oh,” Gerard blinked. They stopped next to the stairs on the 3rd floor, leaning against the wall as other students rushed past. “How do I get the great path?”  
“I figured you’d ask that,” Brendon smiled. “You need to give Frank a birthday present.”  
“I don’t have enough time to buy anything!” Gerard exclaimed, flapping his hands a bit.  
“Well that’s fine, because he doesn’t want you to buy him something. You’re gonna give him something special, something he’ll treasure. I’m not going to tell you what it is, because you already know.”  
Ryan leaned over to set his head on Brendon’s shoulder and Brendon smiled.  
“We’re throwing him a party in Ray and Bob’s room after lunch tomorrow,” Ryan spoke up. “Keep him busy in the morning so we can set up, alright?”  
“Yeah, okay,” Gerard said, distracted. _Something Frank would treasure? He couldn’t think of anything he could get him on such short notice...._ “Oh.”  
“There it is,” Brendon muttered to Ryan. He raised his voice so Gerard could hear. “We’re going to dinner, see you later Gerard.”  
“Yeah,” Gerard said, already rushing off in the opposite direction.  
Brendon and Ryan set off down the staircase for dinner.  
“You love playing the mystic, don’t you?” Ryan chuckled.  
“Sometimes it’s fun,” Brendon admitted.  
“Should we tell Bob and Ray that we’re having a party in their room tomorrow?”  
They walked into the cafeteria at that moment and saw Frank talking to Ray and Bob, gesturing wildly, an excited grin on his face.  
“We can tell them tomorrow morning.”


	20. In Which Frank And Gerard Go On A Trip

Frank lingered over his oatmeal, glancing around at his suspiciously quiet friends.  
“So,” he spoke up. “What are you guys doing today?”  
“Studying,” answered Ray.  
“Going to the stables,” answered Brendon, Ryan nodding in agreement.  
“Nothing,” answered Bob.  
“What about you, Gerard?” Frank asked.  
“Um, actually, Bert told me about this little clearing in the woods with a big apple tree in the center. I was gonna go check it out.”  
Frank frowned. “You’re going with Bert?”  
“Nope,” Gerard said, smiling at him. “I was gonna see if you wanted to go with me.”  
“Oh.” Frank looked back at his oatmeal. “That sounds cool.”  
“You’ll come with me?” Gerard asked.  
“Sure.”  
Gerard reached out to grab Frank’s hand.  
“Come on, let’s go now!”  
“Wha-”  
Frank was tugged out of his seat as Gerard pulled him along. He glanced back to see the rest of his friends muttering with their heads together. Brendon waved at him, wearing a huge grin on his face.  
Gerard dragged him all the way to the edge of the courtyard, letting go of his hand only once they hit the grass.  
“Come on!” he laughed, starting to run away. Frank stood and watched him spread his wings and take flight. He loved watching Gerard fly, it made him feel light and... good. He joined Gerard in the sky and followed him off to the side as Gerard steered towards the forest.  
“How far in is it?” Frank yelled over the sound of the wind and the flapping of two giant pairs of wings.  
“Not very!” Gerard yelled back, turning his head over his shoulder a little. He didn’t veer off course because they had practiced flying straight without looking in class. “They said it was like half an hour walk in, so it should only take us a few minutes!”  
Frank spent the short flight half paying attention to where he was going and half watching Gerard. He flew a few feet below Gerard and off to the side so he could look up and see the sun filtering through the black, leathery skin of his wings. Millions of blood vessels were visible this way and Frank could see the slender but strong bones.  
“What are you looking at?” Gerard shouted, quirking an eyebrow at him.  
“Nothing!” Frank yelled back, dropping his eyes to the forest below them and trying to hide his blush.  
A few minutes later Gerard swooped past him, yelling, “I think I see it!”  
Frank pulled his wings in and dove past Gerard. “Race you!”  
Gerard’s shout of “No fair!” faded into the wind behind him as he plummeted to the ground, hands and elbows tucked securely to his torso and hair flying behind him. His eyes searched the forest canopy, looking for a break in the tree tops. He spotted the clearing and angled his head toward it, the rest of his body following after. Just before he passed the canopy, he flung his wings out to slow his descent, but he was going too fast.  
“Frank!”  
Frank tucked his wings back to his body just before he hit the apple tree, flinging his arms out to shield himself. He’d rather break an arm than a wing. He crashed through the branches and out the other side, slamming into the muddy ground and knocking the breath out of his chest.  
He heard a thud a moment later and then Gerard was grabbing at his shoulders.  
“Frank! Frank, are you okay?”  
Frank opened his eyes and chuckled. “Got you this,” he smiled, holding up an apple.  
Gerard sighed and sank to his knees. “Jesus, Frank, you scared the crap out of me.” He snatched the apple from Frank’s open palm then helped pull Frank to a seated position. “Are you okay?”  
“Yeah, yeah,” Frank giggled, wiping mud off his jeans. “I crash all the time, I thought you would’a guessed that by now.” He looked up to see Gerard making a face at him, he laughed again.  
“Hey, come on. That was scary for me, asshole,” Gerard grouched. He reached up and pulled a few leaves from Frank’s wind-blown hair.  
“Thanks,” Frank grinned, running a hand through his hair.  
Gerard looked over Frank’s shoulder and smirked. “You got a bunch in your wings, too.”  
“Oh, damn.”  
“Here, let me,” Gerard offered. He grabbed Frank’s shoulder to turn him around and started plucking at the white feathers. Frank stayed silent and listened to Gerard hum softly as he worked. The feeling of someone picking through his feathers was odd, and occasionally Gerard’s fingertips would brush against the hidden, soft pink skin. It tickled, but in a really nice way. Frank tried to stay as still as possible. He didn’t want this to end.  
Quiet minutes passed. If Gerard noticed the slight quiver in Frank’s wing tips whenever he touched Frank’s skin, he didn’t mention it.  
Eventually, Gerard paused.  
“Happy birthday, Frankie,” he muttered before getting back to work.  
Frank bit his lips against the smile that split his face. He didn’t turn around when he asked, “How’d you know?”  
“Brendon,” Gerard answered with a chuckle.  
“Of course,” Frank nodded. Another moment passed. “Thanks.”  
“Don’t thank me yet, I haven’t even given you your present.”  
“You didn’t have to buy me anything,” Frank said, shaking his head a bit.  
“Well good, because I didn’t.”  
Gerard’s fingers pulled away from Frank’s wings and Frank frowned. A shuffling sound came from behind him and then Gerard’s hand appeared around his side holding a rolled up piece of paper.  
Frank took it and waited until he could feel the shift and pull of his feathers again as Gerard continued picking leaves and twigs out of his wings. He unrolled the paper and stared at it.  
It was him and Gerard and Mikey and Bob and the rest of all their friends. The background was fuzzy and undefined, but their faces were clear as day.  
“You drew this for me?” Frank whispered. His voice almost floated away on the slight breeze, not quite lost in the sound of shifting leaves and buzzing insects.  
“Happy birthday,” Gerard repeated, a smile in his voice.  
Frank spun around and kissed Gerard before he could lose his nerve.  
Gerard flailed slightly, his hands jumping up to grab Frank’s face. They broke apart with a small gasp.  
“I- You...?” Gerard stuttered.  
“Yeah,” Frank agreed. He threw his arms around Gerard’s neck and kissed him again, Gerard pulling him closer.

 

“Oh, they’re-” Brendon laughed, pausing in his decorating of Bob’s bureau.  
“Are they-?” Ryan asked, looking up at him from across the room.  
“Yup,” Brendon smirked. He looked up to the rest of their friends, crammed in Bob and Ray’s tiny room. “They’ll be here in twenty, no... make that thirty minutes.”  
Mikey stepped into the room then, Pete tagging along behind. He shot an immediate glance at Brendon then slapped a hand over his eyes with a soft “Ah!”  
“Sorry! Sorry!” Brendon laughed, quickly picturing the decorations instead of what Gerard and Frank were getting up to.  
Mikey peeled the hand away from his eyes with a grossed out look on his face and everyone laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love comments!


	21. In Which The Students Divide and Conquer

Mikey and Pete bid their friends goodbye at the edge of the gym. Patrick, Joe, and Andy had Swim class and Pete always made a face at the prospect of being in water for that long voluntarily. Mikey didn’t mind the water, but he didn’t like it enough to take a class on it.  
“So, Mr. Bishop said I’m doing a lot better, you know?” Pete said as they made their way to Stealth class, talking about the Power Control teacher. Mikey didn’t bother rolling his eyes. Pete knew that Mikey knew he was doing better, they had that class together. He knew even better now that he had been spending most of his time in Pete’s head just to avoid accidentally hearing Gerard or Frank’s thoughts. Mikey made a face as they started descending the stairs to the basement.  
Pete continued talking without noticing Mikey’s distraction.  
“He thinks that by the end of the semester I can start learning to like- throw my fire. How cool would that be?”  
“Cool,” Mikey muttered softly.  
“Did you talk to Mr. Thompson about your invisibility like Mr. Bishop told you to?”  
 _Not yet,_ Mikey shrugged. He didn’t like to talk out loud when other students were walking past them. _I don’t care too much about..._ “Doing a- anything more with my- my- my invisibility, you know?”  
“Don’t you wanna learn to like, make other things invisible too?” Pete asked as he opened the door to the Stealth classroom.  
 _I just wanna focus on mental walls right now, you know?_  
“I can imagine why,” Pete chuckled. Mikey made another face.  
Mrs. Ward appeared then, entering the classroom from one of the side doors that lead to the stealth field. “Alright, settle down!”  
The class fell silent with only the occasional fidgeting.  
“First off, I’m going to collect your essays on the offensive tactics of the British army in World War One...”  
She made one of the girls in the front row collect everyone’s papers. It was a job that Pete never, ever got stuck with. Mrs. Ward stacked the essays on her desk then turned back to the class.  
“Okay, we’re going to split up again. Group one, on the field. Group two, get out your notebooks.”  
They were already two months into the school year, so the students knew exactly what to do. Pete and Mikey helped the rest of their group pull chairs and desks over to gather by the huge screen set into the side wall. The other group split up and headed down the spiral staircases.  
Pete and Mikey’s group looked up when Mrs. Ward switched on the screen, displaying the column obstacles, the flag in the center, and the students milling around on each side of the field.  
“You may begin,” Mrs. Ward said into the speaker set into the wall.  
Mikey watched the right group fall into formation instantly and run towards the side of the field, gathering behind a column. The left group split into groups of two and spread out, entering the field from different angles, all headed toward the center.  
“Sarah, talk to me,” Mrs. Ward said, stepping around behind the seated students to watch the screen.  
“Group A is attempting to divide and conquer, Group B is... strategizing?” answered the blonde two seats over from Mikey.  
“From what we know from watching Group B in past classes, what do you think their approach will be, Dan?”  
“I think they’ll try to eliminate the other team before making a move on the flag,” the boy next to Pete answered immediately.  
“Didn’t work too well for them last time,” Pete chuckled.  
They watched Group A traverse the columns, slowly getting closer to the flag and each other. Group B finally broke apart and rushed into the thick of the field, spreading out separately.  
“Nailed it,” muttered Dan.  
Mikey shook his head, a quirk to his lips.  
“What’s on your mind Mikey?” Mrs. Ward inquired.  
“They.” He stopped to clear his throat. “L- Last week. They, they did the, the.” He cleared his throat again, face turning pink. “Same thing.”  
Mrs. Ward ignored his stutters politely and pressed on.  
“Will that work in their favor or against it, do you think?”  
“A- A- Against.”  
“Why?”  
Mikey groaned.  
“You’re doing a great job, Mikey,” Mrs. Ward encouraged. “Why don’t you let Pete take this one?”  
“Thanks,” Mikey and Pete sighed at the same time.  
A few moments of silence passed while Mikey muttered to Pete in his head. Group A was nearing the flag, but Group B was closing in on them faster.  
Pete finally spoke up. “Group A is going to expect it. They shouldn't try the same tactic twice in a row, especially since it failed the last time.”  
“On the other hand...?” Mrs. Ward suggested.  
A boy with dark green skin answered. “Group A would think that there’s no way Group B would try it again, _because_ it failed last time.”  
“Precisely. I think that’s exactly what they’re counting on.”  
Sarah spoke up again. “If they expected Search and Destroy, Group A never would have split up.”  
“I agree,” smirked Mrs. Ward.  
The students leaned forward in their seats to watch as the two opposing groups met in the center of the field. It was over in a matter of moments. The two groups of eleven year olds fell against one another and the blue and orange dots representing the players started flashing red as each person got tagged out.  
There were only three players left, two from Group A that had avoided the clash by staying toward the side, and one player from Group B that immediately started jogging toward the flag as their out-of-play teammates turned back to their end of the field.  
“Two against one,” Mrs. Ward said. “Who has the advantage, Eric?”  
“Normally, I’d say the pair, but considering how many people the Group B player just tagged out, I’m going to say he has the advantage.”  
“He’s faster,” Pete claimed, “But it’s still two against one. If he meets them both at the same time, he might get one tagged out, but while he’s doing that, the other player will get him.”  
“Very true.”  
The pair from Group A was edging their way slowly toward the center of the field, warily checking around each corner before proceeding. The lone played from Group B was sprinting outright, heading across the field before hanging a right and starting up a straight-away that ended at the flag.  
“He’s got it!” cried Eric.  
“Wait, look!” countered Sarah.  
The Group A team had suddenly split up and started running toward the flag from different directions. It was over just as fast as the first confrontation.  
The lone Group B player ran at one of the pair and tagged them out, but before he could turn and head back for the flag, the other Group B player had grabbed it. The blinking yellow star that represented the flag turned solid green and a few students in the class cheered.  
Mrs. Ward stepped back to the speaker and declared the match over.  
The students returned the desks and chairs to their original places while the two teams started the short trip back to the classroom.  
Once all the students were seated and the winning player had received pats on the back from the rest of her team, Mrs. Ward addressed them all with a smile.  
“Alright, Divide and Conquer verses Search and Destroy. Discuss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm sorry that took so long! I literally *just* finished writing it, so at least I wasn't keeping anything from you XD  
> Anyway, I'm trying super hard to get over this writer's block because a month between updates is obviously way, way too long. Thank you all for your constant messages and encouragements. I never would have gotten off my ass without them!
> 
> *Comments are a girl's best friend*


	22. In Which Gerard is Someone Special

Mikey and Pete had Meditation just before lunch on Mondays and Wednesdays. Pete always complained about those classes because he claimed he didn’t like mediating. He’d never admit that he just didn’t understand it. Mikey knew, he knew everything that Pete thought nowadays. He had offered to help Pete once, but Pete declined.  
Mikey, on the other hand, was excelling with his meditation. The control he had gained over his telepathy after only two months was incredible. He could reach further with his mind now; hear more, hear clearer. He could also pull his reach in to just the room he was occupying, meaning his headaches had started to ease up.  
Today, Mikey was in the side room with Mr. Davies while Mr. Thompson worked with the rest of the class. Mr. Davies had a perfect wall around his mind, something Mikey couldn’t hope to penetrate. He had been trying, over the past two weeks, to help Mikey begin forming his own walls.  
“Focus on your own mind, letting all thoughts and images from those around you fade away,” Mr. Davies instructed.  
Mikey tried to relax and let the cacophony of voices in his head slip away. His face was scrunched up in concentration, eyes shut and mouth twisted. Mr. Davies was pacing in front of where he sat on the small couch, constantly instructing Mikey.  
Mikey felt a presence poke into his head and immediately tried to shut it out, thinking it was Mr. Davies testing him. The intrusion got heavier, however, and Mikey relented.  
 _Mikes, you alright? I couldn't get through right away..._  
 _Sorry,_ Mikey answered his brother. _I'm working on walls._  
 _Oh nice. I just wanted to know if you wanted to sit with us at dinner tonight?_  
 _Yeah, sure._  
"Mikey."  
Mikey's eyes snapped open to find Mr. Davies standing in front of him, frowning.  
"I thought I told you not to contact anyone while we were practicing?"  
"S-Sorry," Mikey stuttered.  
"Do I have to separate you and Mr. Wentz forcefully or can you concentrate on your task without chatting?"  
"It, it wasn't P-P-Pete."  
"Oh?" Mr. Davies asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who was it?"  
"My b-brother, Ger-Gerard. He had a, a, a..." Mikey sighed in frustration. He knew the word he was trying to get out, he just couldn't get his mouth to form it. "Wanted to-to ask-"  
"You wanted to ask him a question?" Mr. Davies put together.  
"N-no, he w-wanted to-"  
"You contacted your brother because he wanted to ask you something?" Mr. Davies raised both eyebrows this time. "How did you know he wanted to talk to you? Or was it mere whim?"  
"H-He contac-taced m-me." Mikey hated that his stuttering always got worse when he was nervous.  
"Your brother... contacted _you_?"  
Mikey nodded. He hoped he hadn't just got Gerard in trouble.  
"Remind me again of your brother's name and mutation?"  
"Gerard." Mikey almost smiled at being able to get the word out in one piece. "F-Flight. He's got, got-" He raised his hands and motioned over his shoulders. "Wings."  
"And telepathy?"  
"N-No, sir."  
Mr. Davies sat in the chair across from Mikey's couch and stared intently at him.  
"You said that _he_ contacted _you_."  
Mikey nodded.  
"Can anyone else contact you that way, apart from other telepaths?"  
He shook his head.  
"How long has he been able to contact you?" Mr. Davies laced his fingers together.  
"F-For. Always. We pra-prac-prac-"  
"You practiced?"  
Mikey didn't think Mr. Davies eyebrows could go any higher. He nodded.  
Mr. Davies considered Mikey for a long moment, then got to his feet.  
"Stay right here, Mikey."  
Mr. Davies turned and left the small room, going back into the main classroom. Mikey touched Gerard's mind again.  
 _Think we're in trouble, Gee._  
 _Why, what happened?_ Gerard answered immediately.  
 _Mr. Davies just- oh, hold on._  
Mikey pulled himself back into the room as Mr. Davies returned, followed by Mr. Thompson.  
"Mikey," Mr. Thompson said gently. "Could you ask Gerard to come up here please?"  
Mikey made a face, but reached out anyway. _They wanna talk to you, Gee._  
Mikey listened to Gerard telling his flight teacher that he had to be excused, then rolled his eyes when Gerard kissed Frank on the cheek before leaving.  
 _I'll be up in a second._  
Mikey looked back up at the two teachers. "Are we in, in tr-trouble?"  
"Not at all," Mr. Thompson assured him. Mr. Davies stayed silent, watching Mikey with an odd look in his eyes.  
A long stretch of awkward silence passed before Gerard finally poked his head into the room.  
"Uhm, you wanted to see me, Mr. Thompson?"  
"Yes, please come in."  
Gerard fidgeted his way into the room and over to a chair, sparing a wide eyed glance at Mikey, who shrugged.  
Mr. Thompson looked down at Gerard with a small reassuring smile that did nothing to help either boy's nerves.  
"It's come to our attention that you are able to contact Mikey telepathically, as you both just demonstrated."  
Gerard flicked his eyes over to Mikey before answering.  
"Uh, yes sir. We've always been able to. We had to practice at it for a while, but it's easier now that Mikey's getting better."  
"Gerard," began Mr. Davies. "Are you able to contact anyone else this way?"  
Gerard fidgeted again. Brendon had told him about Mr. Davies, but they had never met.  
"No, sir. Only Mikey."  
"Don't you find it strange that you can contact a telepath without their input?" Mr. Davies pressed.  
"Well, no. It's- he's my brother, sir. Of course we're connected."  
Mikey smiled at that.  
Mr. Thompson cut in. "Gerard, when we first met you told me that Mr. Saporta said you had a latent ability, do you remember?"  
"Yes, sir."  
"Have you been able to discover it through mediation yet?"  
"...No, sir."  
"Would you mind if Mr. Davies here tried to find it for you?"  
Gerard glanced between Mikey, Mr. Thompson, and finally Mr. Davies before answering.  
"I guess not."  
Mr. Davies moved forward and knelt in front of Gerard, offering up a kind smile.  
"Just relax and try to clear your mind. This isn't going to hurt in the slightest, I'm just going to take a peek, alright Gerard?"  
Gerard nodded. Mikey watched his brother shut his eyes and twist his fingers together.  
"Just relax," Mr. Davies muttered, reaching out to place his hands on either side of Gerard's head. He gently pressed his thumbs into Gerard's temples and let out a sigh.  
Mr. Thompson and Mikey watched with bated breath as the pair sat still, breathing softly with their eyes shut tight.  
"Relax, Gerard," Mr. Davies reminded him.  
"I am," Gerard muttered.  
Mr. Davies brow furrowed.  
"This would be easier if you didn't block me out, Gerard," he chastised.  
"I'm not- wait, what?"  
"Let your wall down, I promise not to pry into your personal thoughts."  
"I'm not... What are you talking about?"  
Mr. Davies pulled away, fixing Gerard with a look. Gerard opened his eyes and looked to Mikey again. Mikey was just as confused as Gerard seemed.  
"John?" Mr. Thompson said.  
"He's blocking me," Mr. Davies answered, wonder in his voice. "He's got a wall. It's not as strong as mine, but it's there and it's effective."  
"What does that even mean?" Gerard asked frantically.  
"The reason Mr. Saporta and Mr. Davies can't get a lock on your powers is because you have a wall in your mind, blocking out any intrusion," Mr. Thompson answered. "Apparently it's unintentional, but it's there."  
"Boys, do your parents have any abilities?" Mr. Davies asked, standing up again.  
"No," Gerard answered as Mikey shook his head.  
"Do you have any friends or family back home that are telepathic?"  
"No."  
"That's incredible," Mr. Davies said with a slight chuckle.  
"What is going on?" Gerard begged.  
"You _do_ have another power, Gerard," Mr. Thompson told him. "But you've blocked it out. We can't reach it, and neither can you."  
"I'd say it's a form of telepathy," Mr. Davies added. "Not like your brother, I doubt you could hear thoughts, but it's a mental power."  
"Is it locked away forever?" Gerard asked, his eyes widening.  
Mr. Davies reached out again silently and pressed the pad of his thumb to Gerard's forehead.  
"No, you could reach it if you tried hard enough."  
"Gerard," Mr. Thompson interrupted. "There may be a good reason that you unconsciously locked this ability away. Are you sure you want to try and tamper with that wall?"  
"If I have something that makes me special," Gerard gasped. "Of _course_ I want to know about it!"  
Mr. Davies pulled his hand away with a frown. "You already are special, Gerard."  
"Not special enough," Gerard muttered.  
Mikey frowned and nudged into Gerard's head. _Love you._  
"You too, Mikes."  
"If you want to discover this ability, I can't stop you," Mr. Thompson said. "You and Mr. Davies can work on it on alternating Meditation classes, alright? In the meantime I want you to continue focusing on your flight and strength."  
"Yes, sir."  
"Mr. Davies will report to me on your progress," Mr. Thompson continued. "And the three of us will have regular meetings to discuss it, okay?"  
"Yes, sir." Gerard fidgeted again and looked over to Mikey. "I don't want anyone else to know." He transferred his gaze to the two teachers "Is that alright?"  
"The headmaster will be informed and your records changed, but beyond that, we can keep this to ourselves," Mr. Thompson smiled.  
"Thank you, sir." _Promise you won't tell Frank?_ Gerard added to Mikey.  
Mikey frowned. _Promise._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget that you can submit any art you want for this story and have it featured at the top of one of the chapters! If you want to do art for a specific chapter and want it added to the top of that chapter, let me know!  
> You can inbox me on Tumblr at casesandcapitals or storiesbycases for my email address, or you can post your art in the casesandcapitals tag. Even if it's just a doodle, I want it!


	23. In Which There is Young Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> 
> 
> Art created by [absoluteartistry](http://absoluteartistry.tumblr.com/)  
> 

Gerard and Frank sat together in the furthest, most hidden corner of the courtyard. Gerard was sitting on a stone bench, arms around Frank who was seated in his lap, legs on either side of him. It was the only way they could be close without their wings getting in the way.  
Frank wrapped his arms around Gerard's shoulders and buried his face in the pale boy's neck  
"I don't want to. I'm gonna miss you."  
Gerard grinned into Frank's hair. "It's only for a week, Frankie. We'll be together for Christmas, at least."  
"Why does everyone have to go home for Thanksgiving anyway? That's such a stupid rule."  
"Don't you miss your family?"  
Frank fidgeted and Gerard blushed.  
"Yeah, a bit. But a whole week?"  
"You'll survive without me, Frankie. You've got Bob to hang out with anyway."  
"Yeah, I guess. You're gonna text me and stuff, right?"  
"Of course."  
Frank planted a few small kisses to Gerard's neck before Gerard chuckled and pulled away.  
"You wanna go fly before lunch?" Frank asked, leaning back to look Gerard in the face. His boyfriend held his waist tightly so he wouldn't fall.  
It was Saturday, which meant most of their friends were busy doing homework. Frank and Gerard had a huge pile of work to do as well, but they just couldn't bring themselves to do it.  
"Yeah, alright."

Gerard stood and threw his apple core into the forest.  
"So, Mikey's been having trouble with his walls."  
"That sucks."  
Frank was perched in the giant apple tree, chewing on a red fruit and grinning down at Gerard.  
"He said that next to the teacher's walls, his is like a chain link fence next to reinforced steel."  
"He's being a little tough on himself, isn't he?" Frank asked, frowning.  
"I dunno. I don't think he's making the progress he expected when we got here." Gerard kicked at the rotten apples around his feet.  
"He's still just a first year though, he's got seven years of school left to figure it all out."  
Gerard rolled his eyes. "Yeah, try telling Mikey that."  
"Mikey doesn't talk to me anymore," Frank reminded Gerard, a full on pout on his face.  
"Well, if you tried a little harder to control your _thoughts_..."  
Frank jumped from the low branch, opening his wings a bit to lessen the impact. He walked right up to Gerard and threw his arms around his neck.  
"I can't help it," he grinned.  
Gerard leaned down to kiss Frank, the action causing a slight blush to rise in his cheeks.  
After a moment Frank pulled back with a wide smile.  
"You wanna see what I figured out on Friday?"  
"Sure," Gerard grinned.  
Frank stepped back a few paces and fixed Gerard with a look of concentration.  
"Don't distract me."  
He dropped his gaze to his hands that were held out in front of him. He snapped using both hands at once and two identical balls of white light appeared.  
Gerard wanted to cheer at Frank's progress, but stayed silent.  
Frank slowly opened his fists until he was holding the balls of light over his flat palms. He stuck his tongue out of his mouth, forehead wrinkled in concentration.  
So fast that Gerard almost missed it, Frank clapped his hands together then pulled them apart, forcing the two separate spheres to become one larger ball of light. It was about the size of a grapefruit.  
Gerard blinked away from the glowing sphere to focus on Frank. His wings were glowing incredibly bright, but his face was paling.  
"Frank."  
The light faltered then disappeared, though the boy's wings didn't stop glowing. Frank swayed then fell to his knees among the rotten apples.  
"Frankie," Gerard muttered, rushing to him.  
"Still working on it," Frank grumbled. "Makes me so tired.... It sucks."  
Frank's hands were cold where Gerard grabbed them. Every time he practiced he got chilled. Every time he practiced he got tired.  
"Did you notice your wings?" Gerard asked.  
Frank extended his wings to wrap around them both, eyes widening when he saw the light they were emanating.  
"Woah."  
"They do that every time, you know."  
"So fucking weird."  
Gerard laughed and pulled Frank against his chest.  
"You're freezing, Frankie."  
"Thompson said it's my own energy that I'm manipulating. So like, physical energy and heat energy. That makes sense, right?"  
"It does. Is there some way you could manipulate the energy around you instead of stealing it from your own body?"  
"Dunno. After the New Year they're switching me into a Power Control class on Mondays." Frank huffed out a tired little laugh. "So much for my double block of free periods."  
"I can't wait to see what you learn to do," Gerard said wistfully.  
"I can't wait to figure out what the fuck it is."  
"You're gonna be cold and tired all the time...."  
"I've got you to warm me up though," Frank smiled.  
"Yeah, you do."  
They stayed like that, kneeling in the small field and leaning against each other for a long time. Eventually Gerard stirred.  
"It's probably dinner time by now."  
"Oh yeah."  
"You wanna head back?"  
"Sure. We should probably get at least _some_ homework done, too."  
Gerard pulled away from Frank with a face. Frank chuckled.  
"I'll help you," he promised.  
"I'm glad I have you," Gerard muttered.  
Frank closed the small gap between them to press their lips together.  
"You'll always have me."

Later that night after both boys had brushed their teeth and changed into their pajamas, they climbed into bed together.  
After only a few days of dating, they had rearranged their room so they could push their beds together. Frank had the habit of trying to creep into Gerard's bed at night, but with two sets of wings, they never really fit. So now, with a makeshift larger bed, they were able to curl up against each other. They had to face each other, wings spread out behind them, in the center of the two beds. They wrapped themselves together the best they could, without their wings getting in the way, and pressed their foreheads together.  
They whispered to each other sleepily and traded small kisses before dropping off each night.  
Gerard was so glad he had come to school here.


	24. In Which We Visit The Way's

The trip back home was much better than the trip to Colorado.  
The school had purchased their tickets, and since everyone was leaving for the holiday at the same time, the students that lived near one another got to sit together.  
Gerard and Mikey sat next to each other again, but with Ray and Brendon sitting in front of them this time. Gerard read for most of the trip while Mikey shut his eyes and practiced on his mental wall. Ray and Brendon, however, talked non-stop about what had happened when they had left the school that morning.

The yellow haired bus driver had smiled at them when they all piled on. Once the bus was full of students headed for the airport, he started off down the long driveway. He stopped at the gates and waited for them to open, turning around to speak to the students.  
"Alright, listen up!"  
The bus fell mostly quiet.  
"I've been informed that the AML is protesting outside."  
Numerous whispered conversations sprang up, along with more than a few gasps.  
"Calm down," the yellow haired man said. "Just sit quiet, don't draw any attention or show them any in return and we'll get through fine, alright? They can't do anything to harm you; a couple news stations are out there filming. Act like it doesn't bother you and you'll send a strong message. Everyone got that? Okay, let's go."  
Ray immediately turned to his friends.  
"The fucking Anti-Mutant League!" he whispered dramatically.  
Gerard grabbed Mikey's hand. "It's fine," he assured them. "They can't hurt us, they'd go to jail."  
"We're going to get through fine," Brendon muttered, watching the bus driver start forward.  
The students around them exhaled in relief at Brendon's prediction.  
Gerard couldn't help but look out the windows as they exited the school grounds. Around 30 full grown adults were milling around bearing hand painted signs, shouting. Mikey pressed his face into Gerard's shoulder but the other students acted just like the driver had told them to and ignored the protestors.  
 _Non-Human Means No Rights!_  
 _Mutants Are The Devil's Creation!_  
 _Lock Up The Monsters!_  
Gerard squeezed Mikey's hand tighter.

"The school will get restraining orders against them, for sure," Ray insisted.  
"I don't think they can unless the protesters actually did some harm," Brendon countered.  
"Doesn't emotional harm count?" Ray muttered, dropping his voice.  
Gerard glanced over at Mikey who was deep into his meditation. The skinny boy had shaken like a leaf for the remainer of the bus ride that morning.  
"I don't see any real harm coming from them," Brendon said.

Gerard and Mikey said goodbye to Brendon and Ray at the airport and went to find their dad. Once they spotted him Mikey took off running. Their dad swept his youngest son up in a giant hug and smiled at Gerard as he approached with their luggage.  
"You mom can't wait to see you boys again," he said, reaching out to muss Gerard's hair. "Let's not keep her waiting any longer, yeah?"  
Their mom had positively screamed upon seeing her sons again after almost three months. She knelt down to hug Mikey tight to her chest.  
"Oh look at you both! Mikey you've grown so much!"  
Mikey pulled away from her and looked at the ground, blushing.  
"M-Mom."  
And that had been it for the rest of the night. Their mom cried with happiness for the better part of the next few hours while Gerard and his dad fixed dinner.  
"You seem happier," his dad mused after listening to Gerard talk about school and classes and his new friends.  
"I am," Gerard smiled.  
 _He's got a boyfriend,_ Mikey muttered from the kitchen table.  
"Mikey!" Gerard shouted.  
"Oh!" their mom cried, clapping her hands to her chest. "What's his name? When can we meet him? Where does he live?"  
"Mom," Gerard groaned, turning away to hide his blush. "We've only been dating for like three weeks, calm down."

After dinner, Mikey and Gerard escaped from their parents to go hide in Gerard's room. They curled up in bed and watched movies.  
Mikey had tried his best to answer out loud for every question directed at him during dinner, his stuttering easing up after a while, but now that it was just him and Gerard he allowed himself to speak telepathically.  
 _I didn't think mom was going to flip out about me talking,_ he chuckled.  
 _Of course she would, she hasn't heard you talk in years,_ Gerard muttered back.  
 _You gonna tell them about your other power?_  
Gerard sighed. He hadn't made any progress in breaking down his mental wall since he had met with Mr. Thompson and Mr. Davies that first day. It was beyond frustrating for him.  
 _No, I don't want anyone to know._  
 _Why not?_  
 _What if I can't ever get past the wall? I'll forever be known as the mutant that can't use his own powers._  
 _Mom and Dad wouldn't care about that,_ Mikey insisted gently. _And neither would Frank._  
 _Shut up and watch the movie, Mikey._  
Mikey stuck his tongue out at Gerard then popped out of sight.

Over the next few days Gerard stayed holed up in his room, constantly talking to Frank on the phone or online. Mikey, however, was stuck hanging out with his parents all day long, talking to them as much as he physically could. He told them that he didn't want to talk during Thanksgiving dinner because there would be too many people and it scared him. His dad was proud of him for admitting it and promised not to force him to speak.

**Happy Thanksgiving, Frankie :)**  
 **You 2, Gee**  
 **Miss you**  
 **Miss U more <3**  
 _You guys are lame_  
 _Shut up, Mikey._

Gerard was embraced by so many relatives that they all started to blend together after a while. They were at their grandparent's house down the street, squashed into the tiny house with their aunts, uncles, and cousins.  
Mikey stayed invisible for most of the day, except for when their aunt showed up with her baby boy.  
 _Gerard, he's special!_  
Gerard looked over to his smiling aunt, then down to the 8 month old cradled in her arms.  
 _How can you tell?_  
Mikey flickered into sight next to him.  
 _I can hear his thoughts, and they're in Spanish._  
 _...What?_  
 _Now it's French._ Mikey giggled. _I think it's... what did Mr. Bishop call it? Language Proficiency, I think._  
 _Should we tell them?_  
 _I'm pretty sure he's gonna start talking_ really _soon. They'll figure it out._  
 _That's so cool,_ Gerard laughed.  
It was good to know that they weren't the only mutants in their family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another new chapter will be up later today.  
> Make sure you leave lovely comments!


	25. In Which We Visit the Urie's and The McCracken's

Brendon bounced into his house with a smile on his face. It was nice to be home.  
"Freak's back," one of his older sisters muttered.  
Brendon decidedly did _not_ tell her that she needed to get her car's engine checked or else it would die on Christmas eve.  
"Brendon!" his mom cried, rushing over to hug him. "Oh, I missed you!"  
"I missed you too, mom," Brendon sighed happily.

Brendon's youngest brother flicked peas at him all dinner long, giggling when Brendon managed to catch every one.  
"Brendon, don't encourage him, sweetie," his mom chastised.  
"Sorry, mom."  
The next pea hit him on the forehead.

Brendon spent most of the next day meditating, filling pages and pages with symbols and pictures. His hand writing was getting much better while he was under and he had found that the more he got down during the day, the less he wrote on himself at night.  
One of his older brothers had already made fun of him for the marks and squiggles on his arms, saying he was losing his mind.  
Brendon did _not_ let him know that if he wore his favorite shirt to work the next day, it would end up covered in ink from an exploding pen.

"B'den," muttered his baby sister. "Col'r wif me?"  
"Sure," Brendon smiled.  
They sat on the living room floor for over an hour and filled the pages of her new coloring books. He loved his baby sister with all his heart. She was going to have a bright future.

The morning before Thanksgiving, Brendon woke from a nightmare he couldn't remember. He checked the writing on his arms but didn't see anything relevant. He tried to tell his dad about it over breakfast.  
"Brendon," his dad interrupted after a few minutes. "It's too early for your psychic mumbo-jumbo, alright?"  
"Sorry, dad," Brendon muttered, dropping his eyes to his eggs and toast.

On Thanksgiving morning, Brendon got a text from Ryan that simply said **Happy Thanksgiving Brendon**  
Brendon was in a great mood for the rest of the day.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Bert got off the shuttle bus one stop early. The walk to his house was pretty far from here, but it was well worth it.  
He stashed his luggage under a boulder in the woods before he cautiously approached his yard. He paused, scanning the trees.  
Bert made it within ten feet of the side door before he heard a twig snap behind him. He spun, throwing his arms up to block. His older brother got in a single jab to his kidneys before Bert put him on the offensive. They fought for over ten minutes before Bert finally got his brother to submit.  
"Good one, dude," the older boy laughed as Bert helped him to his feet. "I'm not supposed to tell you, but dad's waiting in the living room with a switchblade.  
Bert rolled his eyes. "He's a sore loser."

Bert's brother went to grab his bags while Bert crept into the house. His dad was indeed waiting for him. The man jumped out from behind the couch and made to stab Bert in the stomach.  
Bert blocked the attack and disarmed his dad in three moves.  
"Not in the house!" his mom yelled from the kitchen.  
"Sorry!" the two men called back.  
Bert's dad smiled at him and pulled him into a tight hug.  
"Welcome back!"  
"Thanks dad."  
"You win, _for now_."  
Bert punched him on the shoulder and went to go hug his mom.


	26. In Which We Visit The Wentz's and The Iero's

Pete tried _really_ hard to not burn anyone while he was home. His parents already bore numerous shiny burns from when he was a child, but now that he was eleven and going to a special school, he was supposed to be in control. He still wasn't allowed to touch his little sister.

"I can do colors now!" he told his dad excitedly after lunch.  
"Let me see!" his dad answered with equal excitement.  
Pete focused on the ball of fire he made appear in his palm.  
"Blue is easiest," he said as the flame changed colors. "Red and yellow are easy too. Green's tougher. I've been working on purple."  
"I'm impressed, Peter," his dad grinned. "Make sure you show your mother."

There were fire extinguishers all over Pete's house. They were in every closet, in the corner of every room, shoved in any random crevice they could fit in.  
Pete managed to not set anything on fire until this second day home. Luckily it was only his bedspread and he put it out before it could move to his mattress. The fire alarm on his ceiling went off and he rushed to open his bedroom window.  
"Pete?" his mom called up the stairs.  
"Got it! Sorry!"  
"Be more careful please, honey!" his mom answered, sounding resigned.  
His dad laughed a booming laugh. "I can't say I missed that sound!"  
Pete chuckled too.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frank spent most of his holiday either texting with Gerard or hanging out with Bob.  
The two boys only lived about 15 minutes away from each other and they ended up hanging out everyday, just like they used to before Schechter's School opened.  
It was nice to see their friends from high school, too. The un-mutated ones who still liked them even though Frank broke things a lot and Bob didn't talk much.

"Seriously, lil bird," Bob grumbled as he dropped lazily onto Frank's mattress. "How do you even still have feathers when you shed this much?"  
Frank swept a few fluffy white feathers from his computer desk and scoffed. "Jealous."  
"Not even," Bob chuckled. He grabbed the remote for Frank's tiny TV set and started channel surfing. "You talking to Gerard again?"  
Frank didn't look up from his computer screen. "Yup."  
"Loser."  
"Jealous."  
" _Loser_."  
" _Single_."  
"The ladies can't handle me," Bob claimed.  
Frank didn't stop laughing until Bob gave him a noogie.

"You gotta come visit me in Chicago someday," Frank muttered into his phone.  
"Maybe this summer," Gerard answered, his voice crackly over the connection.  
"And I can visit you in Jersey. I haven't been there since I was a kid."  
"My mom is gonna flip over you," Gerard chuckled.  
" _My_ mom is just going to be glad you don't molt feathers everywhere. Do you know how many vacuum cleaners we've gone through in the last year alone?"  
Gerard laughed and Frank smiled at the sound.  
"I miss you," the angel boy sighed after a minute.  
"I miss you too, Frankie."

"Have you been watching the news?" Frank asked a while later.  
"No?"  
"The AML is protesting all over the place, really ramping it up."  
"Their stunt outside the school really freaked Mikey out," Gerard sighed.  
"It was nice forgetting about the rest of the world for a while," Frank mused. "Like, inside the school walls we can pretend that the people who hate us don't exist."  
"If they took the time to actually get to know us, they would realize that we're not monsters. I don't think anyone could meet you and not like you immediately."  
Frank blushed.


	27. In Which Everyone Worries

Gerard slept for most of the plane trip back to school. He let Mikey fill Brendon and Ray in about their talented little cousin. He half listened to Brendon talk about his little sister and Ray talk about the car he was building with his dad.  
They made sure not to let Brendon get side tracked in the airport once they landed, no matter how much he wanted to go tell people their futures. The yellow haired bus driver gave them a smile when the four boys climbed aboard.  
There was another small group of students on the bus, so the boys sat across from them and made small talk about classes.  
When they finally reached the school again, they noticed two armed police officers flanking the gate.  
"Because of the protestors, do you think?" one of the girls sitting across from them asked.  
"Probably," Ray nodded.  
They were greeted in the entrance of the building by Julie again. She wasn't wearing a smile this time.  
"Name?" she demanded of them, already flipping through a stack of papers in her hands.  
"Brendon Urie, what's going on?"  
"One of our students never made it home," Julie answered, looking highly upset as she checked off his name. "A member of staff will be around later today to explain the situation to everyone. Name?"  
"Gerard Way."  
The boys made their way through the halls to a very different soundtrack then they were used to. Instead of shouting and laughter or the pops and bangs of various powers, every room was filled with the buzzing of students muttering to one another.  
Mikey refused to leave Gerard's side, so instead of splitting off to their separate rooms, the four of them made camp in Brendon's room.  
Ryan was already there and he looked relieved to see them all.  
"They won't tell us who it was," he said softly. "I'm glad you guys are okay."  
His relief spread throughout the room quickly.  
"Who else hasn't come back yet?" Gerard asked.  
"Spencer and Jon are in their room," Ryan answered. "I know Bert and his friends are all back because I saw them earlier and they asked about you."  
"I should go let them know I'm back," Gerard said.  
"I'll d-do it," Mikey told him, clutching his hand tighter.  
Brendon pulled his laptop out of his luggage and immediately started typing.  
"What about everyone else?" Gerard pressed.  
"That's all I know about," Ryan said, shaking his head.  
Gerard barely had a second to start panicking before the door flew open.  
"Gerard! Holy shit man, I'm glad you guys are okay!"  
Bert, Quinn, Jepha, and Dan piled in through the door. Quinn's gaze flicked over everyone present.  
"Frank and Bob?" he asked the room at large.  
Gerard pulled away from Bert's hug. "Their flight isn't supposed to get in until 2:30."  
"No one's reporting anything about it," Brendon suddenly muttered from the corner. Everyone turned their attention to him. "I can't find anything about it in the news, no missing persons reports or articles about the school."  
"Do you think they're keeping it quiet?" Ryan asked.  
"Maybe until after the rest of the students are back safely?" Ray suggested.  
"They don't want the AML to know there's a young mutant missing," came a smooth voice from the doorway. Everyone whipped their heads around to see who it was.  
Gabe leaned against the door frame. William, Victoria, and Travis were in the hall behind him.  
"It would make the school look bad and would reflect on the rest of the mutant community," he finished easily.  
"Do you know anything? About who it was?" Gerard asked desperately.  
Gabe's eyes roamed the crowded room.  
"We've heard it was a girl," William answered.  
The younger students let out a collective sigh of relief.  
"Where's Frank and the mysterious Bob?" Gabe asked, his eyes landing on Gerard.  
"Their flight isn't back yet."  
"Let me know when they get here, would you? I'd like to know that they're safe and sound."  
With that, the four upper classmen turned and left, leaving the door open behind them.  
"Let us know too, yeah?" Bert asked, gripping Gerard's arm.  
"Sure," Gerard said with a weak smile.  
Bert and his friends left then, leaving Brendon, Ryan, Ray, and the brothers alone.  
"This is so messed up," Ray sighed, dropping onto the end of Brendon's bed.  
"Maybe she ran away?" Ryan suggested half-heartedly.  
"I wish we knew more," Brendon muttered.  
"You didn't See anything?" Gerard asked hopefully.  
Brendon shook his head slowly. "You'd think, given that it's affected our paths. I mean, we wouldn't have ended up in here, today, right now, talking about this, if it didn't happen. But nothing, I didn't _See_ , I didn't see _anything_. But that can't be right, can it? I'd have to have known if- Maybe I missed something-"  
Ryan reached out and wrapped his fingers around Brendon's wrist. Brendon took a deep breath.  
"No," he answered after a moment. "I didn't see anything."

The next few hours were tense. Other students that the boys knew from classes occasionally stopped in the doorway to check on them and see who hadn't made it back yet.  
They hadn't seen a teacher or staff member since they arrived but the halls were filled with students of all ages, gossiping and spreading word on who they had and hadn't seen.  
By the time Brendon's laptop read three o'clock, Gerard was a mess.  
"You talked to Frank every day over break," Ray told him. "And I talked to Bob a few times. We know they made it home alright."  
"But what if something happens on their way back? We should go look for them."  
"Security is tighter now, you saw so yourself. They're going to be here soon."  
Gerard took a deep breath that did nothing to calm him down. He shook his head when Ryan offered to help. Mikey was still gripping his sweaty hand.  
Every minute that passed felt like an eternity to Gerard, until finally-  
"Gee!"  
"Frank!"  
Frank crossed the room in two strides and jumped into Gerard's lap, hugging him as tight as he possibly could. Bob eased into the room behind him and gently squeezed Ray's shoulder.  
"I was so fucking worried, are you okay?" Frank gasped, not letting go.  
"Fine, we're all fine. Everyone's here now," Gerard answered, digging his fingers into Frank's back, his knuckles brushing against the bright white feathers.  
Frank pulled away after a minute and hugged Mikey too.  
"Julie didn't tell us anything except-"  
"We don't know anything yet," Ray told him "We only know about who we've seen and a rumor that the missing student is a girl."  
"Who told you that?" Bob asked.  
"Gabe," answered Brendon.  
"Him and his friends are alright," Gerard said. "Bert and them are back too. Spencer and Jon are in their room and Mikey checked in with all his friends and they're all fine."   
Frank crawled into Gerard's lap again and pressed his forehead to Gerard's neck, ignoring Bob's blatant cough.  
"I fucking missed you, Gee."


	28. In Which Life Carries On and Gerard is Sincere

Frank and Gerard stuck close together for the rest of the day.  
Mr. Stevens, the Flight instructor, was the teacher that came to their floor that afternoon to tell them what had happened. The students gathered around and listened intently as he explained that a 15 year old girl name Cate never made it to her plane the day break started. There was an investigation being conducted and the school and the girl's parents were cooperating fully with the police. They had no leads and no suspects yet, but security around the school had been increased.  
"I expect you all to go about your daily activities," Mr. Stevens had told them firmly. "Classes will begin tomorrow as scheduled and you are all expected to attend. If you have any concerns or if you know anything that may help the police find Cate, you can come to me or any teacher you feel comfortable talking to." He cleared his throat and continued. "To the upper classmen, we hope that you will lead by example and keep the rumor mill and fear mongering to a minimum. Your teachers will update you when we learn more. Now, off to bed with you all."

"Do you think the AML took her?" Frank whispered, his breath fluttering over Gerard's nose.  
They were laying in bed, arms and legs wrapped around each other and foreheads pressed together.  
"I don't know," Gerard whispered back. He squeezed Frank's hand. "I hope not."  
Frank squirmed and pushed himself lower in the bed so he could rest his head under Gerard's chin. Gerard brushed his hair behind his ear then reached over to run his finger's through Frank's feathers.  
"They're not supposed to be able to get us here," Frank said, his voice muffled by Gerard's shirt.  
"They really freak you out, huh?"  
"You didn't grow up in the city, I forgot." Frank sighed.  
"Tell me about it?"  
It took Frank a while to answer, and when he did it was soft.  
"They protested outside my high school all the time. Bob almost got in a fight with a bunch of teenagers once because they threw trash at me when we were walking home."  
Gerard pushed his fingers gently into Frank's feathers so he could touch the soft skin hidden beneath them.  
"Some of them started a petition to keep my mom's friend Jill from getting a job at this one restaurant. They didn't want a mutant handling their food." Frank huffed out a tiny laugh. "The owner threw the petition in the dumpster and said he was an equal opportunity employer. They boycotted the restaurant after that."  
"Wow," Gerard muttered.  
"Yeah. It was just like that, all the time. Whenever they had rallies my mom would make me stay home from school. Bob never cared about it, because like, what can they do to him? And also because you can't tell from looking at him that he's special. But me? They would've lost their minds if they saw me on the street when they were all hyped up on protesting."  
"I thought that only happened in the south?" Gerard asked, continuing to comb his fingers through Frank's bright feathers.  
"It's gotten way worse in the last few years," Frank admitted. "They don't talk about it on TV too much, so I guess you wouldn't know unless you actually saw it."  
"It's not like that in Jersey. The only problem I ever had was people assuming I drank blood."  
"Do you?"  
"Frank!"  
Frank laughed and burrowed himself closer to Gerard's chest.  
"That's nothing," Frank said. "You should see the reaction I get whenever I walk into a church."  
The boys giggled quietly, then moved on to lighter topics.

 

Their first class the next day was Meditation, and Mr. Thompson took a few minutes at the beginning to speak to them all.  
"We're asking all the older students to keep an eye out for the younger ones," he told them. "Most of you are 16 at this point, and I believe that means you're old enough to take some responsibility for the school's greater good."  
Frank stirred in his elevated cushion and glanced at Gerard.  
"Watch out for the younger students, try to keep the rumors down and reassure them that they are safe here. We have no reason to suspect foul play, alright? I want to make sure you understand that while you are inside these school walls, you are perfectly safe."  
"Do they have any leads on Cate yet, sir?" asked a brunette girl in the front row.  
"Not yet, I'm afraid, but the officers in charge are keeping us updated and when we know, you'll know."  
A murmur went through the class. Mr. Thompson cleared his throat.  
"We can't let this keep us from our studies, however, so why don't you all start your meditations?"  
Gerard flashed a reassuring smile up at Frank before he settled into his cushion and shut his eyes.  
While they meditated, Mr. Thompson called the students one by one into the side room for their regular check ins. Gerard twisted his hands together when he finally got called in.  
"So, Gerard," Mr. Thompson said with a smile, waiting until Gerard was seated to begin. "Have you and Mr. Davies made any progress?"  
Gerard let out a sigh. "No, none at all."  
The teacher checked this clipboard. "You've only had two meetings since we discovered this power of yours. If you _had_ made progress I would have been very surprised."  
"I don't understand half the things he says to me," Gerard admitted. "Mr. Davies keeps talking about the wall in my mind that's surrounding my ability, but I can't see it or touch it, so I don't know how I'm supposed to work with it."  
"You have to give it time, Gerard. Mental abilities are flighty things, impossible to nail down. I know you're used to having something to physically grapple with," his eyes darted to Gerard's wings for a moment, "But once you accept the fact that you'll never be able to touch this new ability, everything will get easier."  
"It's just," Gerard sighed again. "Everyone else is getting so much better at their powers and I'm just sitting here with nothing to contribute and-"  
"Is that why you want to discover this ability, Gerard? To brag about it?"  
"No," Gerard muttered, his shoulders slumping and wings unfurling a little.  
"Are you jealous, then? Of the progress your younger brother and Frank have made?"  
Gerard blushed. Of _course_ the teachers would know they were dating.  
"Not jealous. Just... left out."  
"Not to try and minimize your worries, Gerard, but I know dozens of students at this school that would give anything to _not_ have to struggle against their own mental powers everyday."  
"I know," Gerard said, ashamed.  
"Don't think about it too much," Mr. Thompson relented. "You have to remember that at some point in your life, probably around the time you began developing your wings, your mind shut down whatever this hidden ability is. You already know my feelings on the matter."  
Gerard nodded.  
"But if you're determined to find it, it's going to take a lot more work than any of your friends will have to put in on their own abilities. I'll remind you, once again, that the first time you get a glimpse of this ability, it's vital that you let either myself or Mr. Davies know immediately."  
Gerard widened his eyes.  
"It may be dangerous," Mr. Thompson explained. "I don't want you experimenting on your own, is that clear?"  
"Yes, sir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to my beta, Kate, who randomly disappeared a few months ago. Mikki and I were so distressed, we made her go missing in BSSFTG.


	29. In Which We Explore Other Powers

Patrick’s fingers itched. He couldn’t stop scratching them.  
“Who do you think it is?” Andy asked, watching the skin on Patrick’s fingers heal after every scratch.  
“I can’t tell,” Patrick whined, glancing around the cafeteria. “There’s too many.”  
“Mr. Bishop said to ignore it,” Joe said, quoting their power control teacher.  
“I _can’t_ , it hurts too much!”  
Mikey kicked Patrick under the table. _I found them_.  
“Really? Who is it?”  
 _The blonde over there,_ Mikey said, nodding to a table a ways away from theirs. _She got Poison Ivy in the woods._  
“I’ll be right back.”  
Patrick scooted out of their booth and headed over to the girl’s table, where it looked like she was complaining to her friends and trying not to scratch her hands.  
“I- Hello. Um, you have- Well, I noticed you have a rash on your- I’m Patrick, by the way. But, your hands. I can fix it if you want, because they’re making my hands itch and I- Would you mind if I tried-?”  
Patrick blushed and stumbled his way through an explanation of his ability. The girl eventually held her hands out to the awkward eleven year old, letting him take them into his own hands. He had to concentrate, hard, on the poison damaging her skin.  
Patrick had studied hands in Anatomy, studied Poison Ivy in Herbology, and practiced pulling toxins in Power Control. He quickly located the sap in her pores and pushed it away from her skin, grabbing a napkin from the table to wipe it away. Next, Patrick focused on the allergic reaction, forcing her body to speed up the healing process. The rash started to fade, slowly, before disappearing altogether.  
“Wow!” the girl gasped, staring at her freshly healed skin. “Thank you!”  
“No problem,” Patrick smiled shyly. He shuffled back to his friend’s table, glad that the itch in his fingers had faded.  
“Better?” Pete asked when he sat back down.  
Patrick sighed. Now that his hands were better, he could feel the pain from someone’s rolled ankle starting to creep up. “Yeah, a bit.”

Andy pursed his lips and concentrated on the tiny rose bud between his open palms.  
“Deep breaths are very important,” lectured Ms. Tuft, the Communing with Nature teacher.  
Next to Andy, a girl named Victoria took a soft breath. Andy thought she was cool because her skin changed colors depending on what flowers she interacted with. He never talked to her though, because she was 18 and sort of intimidating.  
On the other side of the classroom a 15 year old boy’s flower wilted and died before his eyes, causing a few people in the room to wince. Ms. Tuft paced over to his table to scold him. Andy tried to focus on his flower.  
Roses were harder than daisies or dandelions. They were more finicky and complex. Normally Andy had no problem getting a flower to bloom, but his rose wasn’t cooperating. He looked away to watch Victoria’s snapdragon bloom and close. She wasn’t furrowing her brow even though she was working with multiple flowers at once. Her skin was a light purple, the color getting deeper near her finger tips and eyelids.  
Andy frowned and glared at his rose. It would be so easy if they were allowed to touch the flower, but that was exactly what they were practicing; manipulating plants _without_ physical contact. He shut his eyes and tried to feel the flower between his hands. The thrum of life was obvious, a hot, glowing source in the shape of a rose cutting. He could feel the other flowers in the room as well, but more distantly. Andy took a deep breath and willed the rose to blossom.  
“Very good, Andy!”  
Andy opened his eyes to see Ms. Tuft smiling down at him and his rose. It was completely bloomed, showing off it’s dark red petals. He grinned.

Joe was late to his Elementals class, but Mr. Rye never got mad at his students. He simply nodded Joe towards his chair and continued instructing the class.  
“Now, last week we finished learning to make our elements stay contained under our control, this week we will begin manipulating them into shapes to strengthen that control.” He turned away from the class to grab a small jar of dirt off his desk. “Like so.”  
He place his hand above the jar’s opening then pulled his hand away, forcing the dirt to follow it’s path and leave the jar. Mr. Rye placed the jar back on his desk and focused on the hovering earth under his hand. They had been practicing that exact move for the first twenty minutes of class for the last two months and they had all finally mastered it, with the exception of Pete who was still a little shaky.  
Mr. Rye condensed his dirt into a ball then shifted his hands, making the dirt into a cube. He smirked when the class oohed and ahhed as he moved on to other shapes like a spiral, heart, and pyramid. He finally steered the floating dirt back into it’s jar and instructed the class to gather their supplies.  
Joe grabbed a glass jar from the shelf behind him and headed over to the sink to fill it with water then moved to sit with the other water kids. He felt kinda bad for Pete, who had to sit at the front of the class by himself, but he was also glad because Pete had a tendency to hurt people when he practiced.  
The wind kids sat near the windows and the earth kids sat next to Mr. Rye’s desk. Joe and the other water kids always gathered in the back corner of the class where they could get some peace and quiet.  
The first years’ Elementals class was always unpredictable because they had the least amount of control over their powers out of all the Elementals in the school. Certain precautions were taken, like having Pete sit away from the other students, but also making the water kids lay down towels and keeping dust pans in the closet for the earth kids. Sometimes one of the wind kids would lose control and things would fly around the classroom, so all the papers on the walls were tacked down securely.  
Joe smiled at the girl next to him, Stacy. She was pretty, with dark green hair and gills just under her ears. She was in Swim class with Joe, Patrick, and Andy and she always showed them all up. Joe absolutely did _not_ have a crush on her, not at _all_.  
He waited until the rest of the class was busy focusing on their own elements before concentrating on his jar of water. The water kids were usually the first to master whatever task they had been set, and Joe didn’t want to let his friends down.  
The water in his jar poured up into the air when he moved his hand, gathering between his palms in a loose, organic shape.  
“Start with a sphere,” Mr. Rye called to the class. “It’s the easiest.”  
Joe relaxed his shoulders and dipped his fingers into the ball of water that was the size of two closed fists. He focused on the way a sphere curves and rolls, watching the water in front of him take shape.  
He took a quick peek around the table to see how everyone else was doing. The boy across from him had formed a sort of droopy oval, but Stacy had already moved on to a spiral. Joe refocused on his water and tried to mold the water into a cube shape.  
It took the rest of the lesson for him to get the edges of his cube sharp and pointed instead of rounded and weak. Stacy had started making 3D letters with her water, spelling out words and giggling.  
“That was really good,” he told her as they emptied their jars at the sink.  
“Thanks! Your cube was really good, too.”  
Joe blushed a little and hid it by leaning down to wipe up the spilled water on the floor.  
“It took me forever to get it right,” he admitted.  
“But when you did, it was perfect,” she assured him with a bright smile.  
“Thanks," Joe smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments get me to post new chapters faster ;)


	30. In Which Pete Messes Up

Mikey and Pete were sitting in their room Friday night, both studying for an upcoming English test, when Pete decided he was bored.  
"Mikey, wanna see what I learned?" Pete asked, bouncing off his bed to stand next to the desk.  
Mikey put his pencil down and looked up.  
"S-sure, if it's- it's- it's safe."  
"Come on, Mikey, I haven't burned anything in like two days!"  
Mikey grinned indulgently. "Well, a- a- alright then."  
Pete took a step back as Mikey turned to watch him. He held his hand out, palm up, and focused on it.  
"We're learning to make shapes with our elements," he told Mikey.  
In a quick flash, Pete's entire palm was covered in flickering orange flame, growing to about four inches high. Mikey smiled and leaned in a little closer to watch.  
"It's harder for me," Pete muttered, "Because a flame is always changing it's shape, it doesn't sit still like water or dirt."  
"M- makes sense," Mikey agreed.  
"I've been working on a sphere."  
The two boys focused on Pete's hand again and watched as the flame slowly started to condense and change.  
Mikey cheered softly when Pete's fire became a round little ball, flames licking off the top.  
"Awesome," Mikey said.  
"You wanna see a spiral?" Pete asked eagerly. "It's a little more difficult, but I'm sure I can do it."  
"Have you t- t- tried it yet?"  
"Nope, but how hard can it be?" Pete pulled his hands further apart, making the sphere of fire grow. "I just have to _twist_ it and-"

Gerard jumped, his pen leaving a jagged line over his homework. He glanced over to Frank quickly.  
"Did you hear that?" Frank asked, his eyes wide and scared.  
"Mikey!"  
Both boys tore out of the room and down the hallway. Ray stuck his head out of his room as they ran past.  
"Hey, did you just hear-?"  
They ignored him and raced for the stairs, thundering down to the floor below them. Gerard's wings were spread out behind him as he ran, his body reflexively preparing to take flight. He hardly had enough thought to spare to tuck them back in before crashing into Mikey's room.  
Mikey was curled up on the floor in the corner, crying and nursing two burnt hands. Pete was on the opposite side of the room, hands clenched tight behind his back, a terrified look on his face.  
"I didn't mean to!" he cried. "It was an accident!"  
Gerard rushed over to Mikey and knelt before him.  
"Lemme see, Mikey. You're gonna be fine, okay? Lemme see your hands."  
Mikey continued to sob but held his red, raw hands out for his older brother to see. Gerard choked back a sob of his own.  
"What's going on?" came a worried voice. "I heard Mikey yell in my head!"  
"Patrick," Pete begged. "You gotta heal him. It was an accident!"  
Gerard turned to see Mikey's healer friend in the doorway wearing pajamas. Frank was hovering near Pete, looking angry and protective, like he was ready to restrain Pete if he tried to get too close. His wings were puffed out, an unconscious attempt to make himself look bigger and more threatening.  
"Can you fix it?" Gerard asked.  
The chubby little boy shuffled over and knelt next to Gerard, taking Mikey by the wrists. Mikey was still crying and shaking, obviously trying not to pull away.  
"It's really bad," Patrick mumbled. "Mikey?" he asked, raising his voice a little. Mikey looked at him through glasses and watery eyes. "I'm gonna try and take some of the pain away, but you need to go to the nurse right after, okay?"  
Mikey nodded miserably.  
"You're gonna be fine, Mikes," Gerard assured him, petting his hair. He watched Patrick let out a slow breath and glare at Mikey's hands for a few moments. The burns didn't change in appearance, but Mikey slumped in relief.  
"He needs to go to the nurse now," Patrick told Gerard, clenching his own hands close to his chest.  
"Okay. Come on Mikey, I'll take you." Gerard picked his younger brother up from under his arms and steered him towards the door.  
Pete moved forward, looking tragic, but Frank cut him off.  
Once they were alone in the hall, Gerard questioned Mikey.  
"What happened?"  
 _He- he was showing me st- st- stuff he learned in c- class._  
Gerard bit his lip and hoped Mikey was too upset to notice how distressed Gerard was at hearing Mikey stutter in his head. He'd never done that before.  
"Was it an accident?"  
Mikey nodded, staring at the floor instead of his ruined hands as they walked.

After the brothers left the room, Frank confronted Pete.  
"What did you do?" he asked furiously.  
"I thought I could control it," Pete sobbed, hands still hidden behind his back.  
"You aren't allowed to practice in your room!"  
"I know, I'm sorry."  
Frank turned to look at Patrick, who was flexing his fingers and wincing.  
"Can you go get your floor manager?"  
Pete sobbed harder and sat on the edge of his bed.  
"I didn't mean to...."

 

Pete got a week of detention after dinner each day, was banned from using his power unless a teacher was present, and his parents received a call from the headmaster, Mr. Schechter.  
Mikey's stutter was worse than ever and his hands had to stay bandaged up for days while they healed. The nurse had treated the burns immediately, but the skin was still raw and sore and Mikey had a hard time picking up pencils.  
Frank was furious with Pete and told Mikey he should sit with them instead of his own group of friends at lunch, which Mikey did for the first few days.  
Gerard felt absolutely wretched that he hadn't been able to keep Mikey from getting hurt, or do anything to help after the fact. He had to sit on the phone with his mom for almost an hour while she talked to Mikey, using Gerard as a go between since Mikey's stutter was too difficult to understand over the phone.  
Eventually Mikey's bandages came off and he cautiously reached back out to Pete, who had been feeling completely awful. Mikey assured their floor manager that he didn't need to switch bedrooms, which cheered Pete up, and they slowly got comfortable around each other again.


	31. In Which There Is Another Party

Frank stepped into his and Gerard's bedroom and shut the door behind him. Gerard barely even acknowledged him, sitting up in bed with his nose buried in a textbook, cramming for a test on wind patterns.  
"So!" Frank announced, taking a leaping step forward and bouncing onto the bed, bare stomach first.  
"Hmm?" Gerard asked, not listening.  
"Gabe's having a party this weekend. An early Christmas thing."  
"Uh huh."  
"I thought we could go?"  
"Sure," Gerard answered, highlighting something in his book.  
Frank scrunched his nose and rolled on his side, wings fanned out behind him.  
"Yeah, I was thinking of going in drag, you know? Maybe a tight black dress and bright red lipstick," he added with a smirk.  
"Awesome," Gerard mumbled.  
"And then maybe we could invite Gabe and William back here for a gang bang? You'd be into that, right?"  
"Yeah sure, I- wait, what?"  
Gerard finally looked up in confusion. Frank laughed.  
"There's a party on Saturday and I wanna go. Take me."  
"Eh..."  
"Come _on_ ," Frank whined. "It's for Christmas."  
Gerard rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine."  
Frank knocked the book out of Gerard hands and crawled into his lap. Gerard spread his leathery wings to stabilize them as Frank kissed him.  
A few moments later they broke apart.  
"Only if you promise to wear that dress," Gerard muttered.  
"You jerk," Frank chuckled.

 

By the time they arrived the party was in full swing with a little over two dozen students milling around; talking and dancing or eating snacks that Gabe had obtained somehow.  
Frank pulled Gerard right into the circle of dancing students while the rest of their friends fanned out around the large room. Frank gave up on Gerard after two songs of him shuffling awkwardly from side to side and dragged him aside to get a drink. They eventually wound up in a conversation with William, Victoria, Ray and Bob about what they all wanted to do after graduating.  
"I've heard about a research team working in the rain forests, finding new species of plants and helping the existing ones thrive," Victoria told them over the music. "I'm thinking about joining them."  
"That's really noble," Ray said, nodding. Victoria smiled at him and he flushed.  
"What about you, William?" Frank asked.  
"I'm not sure," the thin boy said. "I know Gabe is very interested in politics, perhaps I'll join him in that endeavor."  
"I didn't know he had political aspirations," Ray mused.  
"Oh yes, he's very passionate about the pressing issues in our nation," William smiled. "Here he is, let him explain."  
Gabe appeared then, smiling in welcome and brushing past Bob.  
"What are we all chatting about?" he wondered aloud.  
"We were just-" Frank started, but was cut off by Bob.  
"You had no right."  
The group turned to stare at the blond boy, who looked furious.  
"Pardon?" Gabe asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"I felt that, I'm not an idiot."  
Gerard felt Frank's fingers wrap around his wrist and looked around curiously. He was gently dragging him and Ray away from the group, his wary eyes on Bob.  
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you-"  
"You just touched my wrist as you passed, you read my fucking powers without my permission!" Bob thundered.  
Other party goers were starting to notice something amiss and were turning to watch. Frank was casually positioning himself in front of Gerard, like if he did it slow enough maybe Gerard wouldn't notice.  
"You must have been mistaken, my dear-"  
Bob grabbed Gabe by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall, a full foot of the ground. The entire party was still now, all eyes turned to the pair. Someone cut the music.  
"I could crush you like a bug under my shoe," Bob threatened softly.  
"I've no doubt," Gabe answered calmly.  
"Just because you think you run this school doesn't mean you can steal information and go unpunished."  
"And you've decided you're fit to hand out punishments now?" Gabe asked solemnly, cocking his head slightly against the wall. He was hanging completely limp, not trying to fight Bob off.  
"If someone violates my rights, then yes."  
"I was simply curious, Bob. There's no need for this to get out of hand."  
William sidled up then, leaning a thin shoulder against the wall Gabe was pinned to.  
"Curiosity killed the cat, Gabriel."  
Gabe glanced down at William, then back to Bob.  
"You have my deepest apologies, Bob Bryar. I can assure you I will never violate anyone's privacy again."  
Bob hesitated, glaring at the upper class man. The room held it's breath. Slowly, Gabe slid to the floor and was released.  
"I'm going to inform your floor manager and that will be the end of it," Bob announced.  
"I'd expect no less," Gabe nodded.  
Bob turned on his heel and marched out of the room, the small crowd parting before him nervously. Gabe turned his attention to his frightened guests.  
"Everything's fine. It's a party, someone turn that music back on and let's all have a good time!" he cried with a winning smile.  
The party eventually rose back to it's original pitch around them. Frank still had a grip on Gerard's wrist, watching the door that Bob had left through.  
"I'm so sorry about that," Gabe apologized to them. "I didn't mean any offense."  
"It's alright," Frank said shakily, finally looking around. "He gets like that sometimes."  
Gabe smiled but Gerard frowned. He wanted to point out that it _wasn't_ okay and the Gabe was kind of a sleaze for doing what he had done, but he also didn't want to argue with Frank or anyone else.  
"He was serious about telling your floor manager though," Frank pointed out.  
"I'm not overly worried about it, and he has every right."  
"We should go make sure he's alright, but thanks for having us," Frank smiled.  
Gabe returned his smile. "You're welcome here anytime my little angel, your friends as well."  
Gerard frowned again and felt something weird twist in his stomach. He took Frank's hand in his and led him out the door.


	32. In Which It Snows And Mikey Meets Gabe

On Saturday morning of the last weekend before exams, it snowed.  
The school woke up to almost two feet of powdery white snow layering the courtyard, fields, stables and forest.  
Mikey stood close to Pete, who was radiating more heat than usual, as they watched Joe craft a lumpy, off-center snowman by waving his hands through the air. Andy was upstairs in his room sulking and tending to his potted plants. Patrick was making as many snow angels as he possibly could, creating a weird sort of snow-army.  
Mikey shivered and turned his gaze away from Joe to watch Gerard and Frank soaring above them. Frank's wings blended with the overcast sky, but Gerard's were obvious, stark and black.  
"Do you ever wish you could fly?" Pete asked him, turning his eyes up as well.  
 _Scared of heights,_ Mikey muttered.  
"Really? That's weird."  
 _Gerard took me up once when I was a kid. I flipped out and he almost dropped me... Mom yelled at him for like two hours._  
Pete giggled and huddled closer to Mikey, keeping his hands balled up in his pockets.  
"Hey!" called Joe. "What do you think?"  
Mikey and Pete looked over at the snowman and clapped while Joe took exaggerated bows.  
"Very nice," came a smooth voice from behind them.  
It was Gabe, Mikey could tell before he even turned around. Gerard had told him about Gabe before, about his power and parties and weird fondness for Frank.  
Gabe's thoughts were smooth and refined, Mikey realized. He didn't blather on and on in his head like most people did, instead he simply thought what he said only a second before he said it.  
The boy next to him had darker skin and tattoos, which Mikey thought was pretty cool. His thoughts were racing, analyzing his surroundings, the people near him, the words being said. They were quick but precise. It was like he saw everything.  
The thin boy that towered next to Gabe must have been William. His thoughts were unusual too. They were slow and easy, not frantically switching from topic to topic like other people.  
"Thanks!" Joe answered happily.  
The three older boys approached them, Gabe leading them and wearing a smile.  
"I'm Gabe," he said, laying a hand on his chest. "This is William, and Travis."  
William smiled at them and Travis nodded.  
"I'm Pete! And this is Mikey and Joe and that's Patrick."  
Patrick popped out of the snow a few feet from them wearing a shy smile.  
"It's lovely to meet you," Gabe said, reaching his hand out towards Pete.  
"Oh, um. I can't," frowned Pete, pushing his hands further into his jacket pockets.  
Gabe withdrew his hand with a slight frown. "Whyever not?"  
Instead of admitting that he could hurt Gabe, which Mikey knew he hated saying, Pete simply took one hand out of his pocket and brought it close to the snow. The white powder sizzled as it melted.  
"Fire manipulation?" William wondered aloud.  
"I don't know about the manipulation part," Pete smiled, tucking his hand away again. "I'm not very good at controlling it."  
"You'll learn with time," Gabe told him kindly. He turned to Mikey then. "Mikey, correct?"  
Mikey nodded.  
"Not Gerard's little brother?"  
Mikey nodded.  
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard so much," Gabe smiled, extending a hand.  
Mikey just stared at him.  
"Uh," Pete interrupted. "He doesn't really-"  
"My apologies," Gabe answered, still not drawing his hand away. "You can, of course, speak to me the way you're most accustomed."  
 _Gerard told me not to,_ Mikey said immediately.  
 _Not to talk to me?_ asked Gabe, looking a little hurt.  
 _Not to touch your hand. He told me what you do and said my powers are none of your business,_ Mikey projected into Gabe's head, not letting anyone else hear. _My friends know what you do too, so don't bother. You should at least tell people what you're doing instead of trying to trick them into revealing themselves._  
Gabe pulled away and straightened up as if he had been slapped.  
"Oh, well. You're quite right I supposed. My deepest apologies."  
William and Travis were looking at him strange.  
"It was lovely to meet you all," Gabe continued, a slight flush in his cheeks. "We'd best be on our way."  
He turned on his heel and strode off, William and Travis following in his wake.  
"What'd you say?" Patrick asked, eyes wide.  
 _I told him to back off,_ Mikey muttered. _If Gerard doesn't trust him, then neither do I._


	33. In Which The Boys Start Their Exams

The halls of the school had been decorated one night while everyone was asleep. The teachers were assigning Christmas themed projects, trying to get everyone in the holiday spirit, and the cafeteria had started serving green and red colored jellos. But for the students this meant only one thing:  
Midterms were approaching.

Frank ended up being the one to break Brendon's laptop one afternoon when his frustration with Physics came to a head, but Brendon just laughed when Frank came to apologize.  
"Ray will fix it," he grinned, taking the laptop and the handful of keys Frank was holding.  
Mikey was freaking out about the oral presentation he had to give in Speech Therapy, Ray never went anywhere without some form of gadget or device he was practicing on, and Brendon spent a lot of time doing something no one understood for his Time Alteration class.  
Gerard was sure he was going to fail his Physics exam and whatever kind of test they were going to be set for Combat 101. Frank was semi-confident in everything except Physics, which meant he and Gerard spent a lot of time quizzing each other on equations and formulas with numerous breaks for making out.  
Bob was coolly confident in all his classes, so Ryan spent their meal times practicing for his Power Control class by spreading Bob's calm to the rest of their friends.  
In the middle of a Wind and Weather Patterns class, a girl with feathers covering her arms started crying and threatened to go live in the woods for the rest of her life. Gerard offered to take her to the nurse to lie down for a while.

 

Frank closed his textbook with a snap that echoed in the still library.  
"I quit."  
"What?" Jon asked, looking up in confusion.  
"I quit," Frank repeated, shrugging.  
Gerard, Brendon, Ryan, and Spencer looked up as well. Their table was stacked high with books, notes, and packets of practice questions. Jon's cat was sprawled out on top of it all.  
"Come on, Frankie, you're gonna do fine," Gerard whispered, reaching out to rub Frank's arm.  
"Nope. I'm gonna fail. I can't do this. I'm gonna go live in the woods with Jessica Miller and survive on nuts and berries."  
"Don't you do that already?" Spencer scoffed. Frank shot him a dirty look.  
"You're not going to live in the woods, Frank," Brendon chuckled, dropping his gaze back to his notes.  
"Really?" Frank asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because I feel like I'd be good at it."  
"I can't tell you how you're gonna do on your exams, but I don't see you living in the woods, so I'm sure you'll manage."  
Frank slumped forward to lay his head on the table. "Can't you just tell me the answers?"  
Brendon fixed Frank with a stern look. "First of all; no, because I'm not taking the same exams you're taking. Secondly; no, because I'd get expelled. And thirdly; no, because Mr. Davies blocked the exam questions from my Sight."  
Gerard's eyes widened. "He can do that?"  
Brendon twisted his lips into an annoyed pout. "Apparently."  
"See?" Frank muttered, lifting his head off the table to point at Brendon. "Even _Brendon's_ upset! That's an awful sign! He's _never_ upset!"  
"I'm just as stressed out as you are, Frank," Brendon reminded him lightly.  
"We're all gonna fail!"  
The librarian appeared around a tall bookshelf to shush Frank, who immediately dropped his head back to the table top. Gerard rubbed his back in sympathy while the other boys went back to studying. After a moment Jon's cat stood up and stretched, then repositioned herself atop Frank's head, curling up and falling asleep.  
"Someone tell Jessica Miller to start packing," Frank muttered sadly, his voice muffled by grey fur.  
Gerard had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

 

There was no meditation exam, which everyone was extremely grateful for. Mr. Thompson simply told them all to take the time to relax and center themselves for their upcoming exams.  
Frank and Gerard both aced their Flight exam, which consisted of maneuvering a mid-air course and a small multiple choice paper with questions about the techniques they had learned so far. Mr. Stevens gave them each a wide, pearly smile as they left.  
At lunch their friends complained about the Algebra exam they all shared, while Jon and Spencer looked relaxed and smug, only having had Meditation with Frank and Gerard so far.  
Frank gave Gerard a long kiss for good luck at the edge of the gym, telling him to be careful and come back to him in one piece after his Combat exam. When the bell rang Frank scurried off to his free period to study Physics.  
Gerard gulped as he walked through the archway, peering around curiously to see if he could get a clue as to what they would be doing.  
"Come on, come on! No time to waste!" Mr. Green called, waving Gerard over. He spotted Bert and his friends standing next to the teacher. "We're going to have a little competition!"  
Gerard gulped again.  
"Now, winning doesn't mean you'll pass, and losing doesn't mean you'll fail. Just do your best and you'll be graded on your ability." He motioned to the archery targets set up along one wall. "First up, Jepha!"  
Jepha and Dan both got bulls eyes, which surprised no one. Quinn did really well too, plunging his arrow into the target just right of the center dot.  
Bert did awful, his single arrow slicing through the edge of the outer most circle. Mr. Green let him try again, but he didn't do much better the second time.  
Gerard took a deep breath as he nocked his arrow, remembering to spread his wings out behind him and place his feet the right way. He tried to ignore the eyes of the teacher and students and just focus on the bow in his hands.  
He shut his eyes after he let loose the arrow, holding his breath and hoping for the best. The cheering from the rest of the class almost gave him a heart attack. He jumped and opened his eyes to look... at his almost perfect bulls eye.  
"Excellent!" Mr. Green cried.  
Gerard beamed and put his bow down on the floor, practically skipping back to the group to stand next to Bert.  
"Not fair," Bert whined. "I was nervous."  
"At least you know you'll ace the next part," Gerard reassured him quietly.  
Bert brightened up a bit at that. "Good point!"  
Mr. Green already had the huge blue pads laid out in the center of the gym, so he instructed the boys to line up on the edge.  
"You will each fight one another in a five minute match and your grade will be a combination of each match, understand?"  
"Yes, sir," the boys answered nervously.  
"Alright, up first; Gerard and Quinn!"

Gerard groaned as he pushed the door opened to his and Frank's room and quickly shuffled across the small space to fall into their bed.  
"What happened?" Frank asked, turning away from the desk that was piled high with notes.  
"I suck at hand to hand combat," Gerard whined into his pillow.  
Frank crossed the room to curl up next to Gerard, scratching his fingers through the thick black fur at the base of his wings. Gerard squirmed.  
"It couldn't have been that bad," Frank insisted.  
"We all had to fight everyone else one on one. Jepha and Bert beat everyone they fought, until Bert beat Jepha. Quinn won against everyone except Jepha and Bert."  
"How many did you win?" Frank asked hesitantly.  
"None!" Gerard groaned. "Even Dan beat me and he sucks! Apparently his _fists don't count as weapons_ he said, so he's not automatically super good at it."  
"But, you won't fail just because you lost, right? That doesn't sound fair."  
"Mr. Green said he'd grade us on our proficiency and not the outcome of the match, but it's still embarrassing. They made me look like a baby turtle out there!"  
"A... baby turtle?" Frank asked, trying hard not to laugh.  
"I don't know! Some kind of dumb slow animal that sucks at fighting!"  
"Aw, Gerard," Frank giggled, trying to sound consoling. "You're not a dumb, slow animal. You totally aced the Flight exam. I bet you got the highest score in the class!"  
Gerard's ears turned pink but he still kept his face hidden in his pillow. Frank grinned and climbed up on his back, straddling his waist. Gerard opened his wings and let them hang off the sides of the bed to make room for Frank.  
"You have your drawing exam tomorrow, and you _know_ you're going to ace that," Frank told him, rubbing his shoulders.  
"That's true, I guess."  
"And then we'll have our Geometry exam together, and then we have Wednesday morning pretty much free because Mr. Thompson doesn't care and Mr. Stevens will probably just let us mess around. Then exams will be halfway over!"  
Gerard turned his head to the side and looked up at Frank over his shoulder.  
"I guess you're right. Thanks Frankie."  
"Anytime."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do not comment asking when I’m going to post the next chapter.  
> I love comments, but make them about the chapter or the characters, okay?  
> I really appreciate it :)  
>  **I will no longer reply to comments that ask for updates.**


	34. In Which The Boys Enjoy Christmas Break

The first day of Christmas break, everyone slept in. Half the school turned up late to breakfast still wearing their pajamas and then headed back for bed.  
Frank and Gerard decided it was their right to stay in bed all day and nap between make out sessions. So they did.

Mikey and his friends hung out in Joe and Andy's room. They never hung out in Patrick's room because they weren't friends with his roommate, and they never stayed in Mikey and Pete's room because everything had scorch marks on it.  
Joe and Andy's room was nice, though. It was like a green room; moist and warm and filled with plants. There were flowering vines covering almost every wall and piled up in the corners like living beanbags. The whole thing was one plant, originating from a single pot set on the desk. Joe watered the plants without his hands and created steam to keep the room warm. Andy kept the plant thriving, saying that being surrounded by life made him feel better. All the flower blossoms closed each night when Andy fell asleep.  
Pete kept his hands to himself when they were in Joe and Andy's room. Mikey found that having a living wall between him and the rest of the school had a sort of dampening effect on the noise level of everyone's thoughts. Sometimes he tried to hear the plant's thoughts, even though Andy insisted they didn't think.

Brendon and Ryan went to the stables to keep the horses company and help Mrs. Spooner brush and feed them. Ryan was getting better at trading emotions with the horses, especially a dark brown female named Acorn. Brendon could swear he saw Acorn having a foal someday, but he wasn't entirely sure.  
Jon joined them after a while, his cat and Spencer trailing behind him unhappily.  
Spencer didn't like horses because even when he was sneaking, they would get spooked by his presence.  
"Like big, hairy Brendons," he would mutter, standing in the door of the stable and glaring at them all.  
Jon could communicate easily with the horses, though he hardly ever bothered. He informed Brendon, sadly, that the horses never really had much to say apart from wanting more grass.

 

On Monday, a large portion of the school's students left to go home and visit their parents.  
The incident with the missing girl had faded to the back of most people's minds in the chaos of exam week, but now it was brought back to the forefront of conversation.  
"I don't think they should let anyone leave," Jon muttered at lunch, looking around at the mostly empty cafeteria.  
"They can't force people to stay at school for Christmas," Frank reasoned.  
"But they never found out what happened to that Cate girl! What if more people go missing?"  
Bob cut in. "Security is so much tighter now. Everyone is being escorted right to their planes and marked down and checked and double checked."  
"Plus," added Ray, "They never found out if there was foul play or not, she might've just run away."  
"But why would she run away?" Frank asked.  
"Does anyone know what her power was? Maybe that had something to do with it," Jon questioned.  
There was a beat of silence before everyone admitted they didn't know anything about her other than that she had gone missing. They quickly moved on to lighter topics.

 

Mr. Thompson surprised everyone at dinner on Monday by announcing that the school would be having a dance that weekend on Christmas Eve.  
Everyone was instantly buzzing about it.  
Mikey giggled. _It's too keep everyone who stayed behind occupied, so we don't go stir crazy and destroy the school._  
"Where'd you hear that?" Frank asked.  
 _Mr. Thompson was thinking it,_ he smirked.

Suddenly girls were fluttering their eyelashes in the hallways and boys were working up the courage to ask them out. Frank and Gerard happily stayed out of all the drama, already knowing that they were going together.  
Bob manfully announced that he was going stag, while Ray was fretting about possibly asking Victoria to go with him. An upperclassman asked Jon if he was going to put a dress on his cat and go with her, which prompted Spencer to sneak a squirrel into the boy's bedroom. Frank delighted in retelling the story to anyone who would listen about the boy screaming the next night and waking up half the school when he found the squirrel nesting in his pillow.  
Mikey told Gerard about how his friend Joe had asked out a pretty girl with gills, giving her a rose made of ice, and how she said yes right away. Pete and Mikey decided to go as friends because they didn't like any of the girls they knew. Bert confided in Gerard that he was too cool to go to stupid school dances, but if he did he would've asked Quinn to go with him.  
On Thursday, during dinner, Ray finally worked up the courage to cross the cafeteria and ask Victoria to go with him.  
The boys made Mikey listen in while they all watched, and when he reported that Victoria said yes, Frank climbed onto his chair to cheer and clap. He only got a few seconds of applause in before a teacher came over to scold him. Ray's face was bright red for the rest of the night.

 

On Christmas Eve morning, Brendon woke from a bad dream. He struggled out of his blankets and bolted upright, frantically glancing around the room.  
"Brendon?" came Ryan's soft voice.  
"Are you okay?" Brendon asked, bounding out of bed to go grab Ryan's arms.  
"I'm- I'm fine, what's going on? What did you see?"  
"I don't remember! But it, it was awful!" he sobbed.  
Ryan took Brendon's hands to hold them in his and spread his sleepy calm to the frantic boy.  
"It's okay, you're fine. It was probably just an normal bad dream, right?"  
"Yeah, yeah maybe," Brendon muttered, his heart rate slowing down.  
"Do you... do you wanna stay with me for a while?" Ryan whispered.  
"Sure."  
Brendon climbed into Ryan's bed and laid down, still clutching Ryan's hands.  
"Thank you," Brendon muttered after a while.  
"Anytime," Ryan told him softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I will no longer reply to comments that ask for updates.**


	35. In Which The Plot Thickens

While the majority of the students that had stayed behind for Christmas break got ready for the dance, Brendon sat in bed and read the news.  
Something awful was going on, he just knew it.  
An hour before the dance was due to start, Ryan came back to their room, followed by Frank, Gerard, Ray, and Bob.  
"Brendon, you're not dressed," Ray said. "I thought you were coming with us?"  
"This is more important," Brendon muttered, clicking and typing furiously.  
"Come on, Brendon, it's Christmas," said Ryan sadly.  
"Don't you realize what's going on?" Brendon cried. He spun his laptop around and adjusted the volume.  
They all gathered close to watch the live streaming video Brendon had going.  
"-Reporting live from the nation's capitol where hundreds of AML members have gathered to protest The Mutant Acceptance laws that were put in place 30 years ago today," a blonde female reporter was saying. She reached into the large crowd behind her and got the attention of a middle aged man who was holding a sign. "Sir, could you tell us why you're against The Acceptance laws?"  
"Because mutants aren't people!" the man shouted. "They're monsters and they should be locked away, not given rights and special schools!"  
"Sir, many of the mutants you would have locked away are children, doesn't that-" the reported tried to reason.  
"They should be put down like rabid animals! You'd shoot a rabid dog even if it was a puppy, wouldn't you? They're dangerous, no matter how innocent they look!"  
The reporter turned back to the camera with a thinly veiled look of disgust on her face.  
"The protest continues to grow as more and more Anti-Mutant League members arrive. Local mutants in the area have reportedly barricaded their homes in fear of looting and violence. The president has ordered the National Guard to come in, while the local police force is doing all they can to maintain peace. For channel five news, this is Georgia Keegan, reporting live-"  
Brendon snapped his laptop shut.  
"This isn't happening," Frank muttered weakly. Gerard reached out to grab his hand.  
"I thought this shit was dying down?" Ray asked frantically.  
"It's getting worse," Brendon said darkly. "There've been a slew of hate crimes over the past few months, all across the country."  
"Hate crimes are one thing," Ray countered, "But to protest in Washington? They've never done anything this big."  
A moment of heavy silence was broken by the pounding of feet in the hallway. Bob opened the door and stuck his head out.  
"Hey!" he called. "What's going on?"  
A older girl paused and stared at them all, wide eyed.  
"It happened again," she said. "Two more kids are missing."  
"They never made it home?" Ray gasped.  
"No, they stayed at school and now no one can find them. Mr. Schechter says everyone needs to get to their own rooms and stay there."  
The girl took off again, joining a group of other students running down the hall.  
The boys dissolved into frantic conversation but Gerard immediately opened his mind.  
 _Mikey!?_  
 _Are you okay?_ Mikey answered at once. _I'm in my room but everyone's freaking out. What's going on?_  
 _Stay in your room, okay? Don't open the door unless it's me or a teacher. Is Pete with you?_  
 _Yeah, he's right here. Gerard, I'm scared._  
 _You're safe Mikey, okay? I promise nothing's gonna happen to you._  
Gerard pulled back in time to hear Ray say, "We need to get back to our rooms."  
"That's a good idea," Ryan agreed.   
Bob led the way out of the room and Ray and Gerard followed. Gerard had to drag Frank, who looked like he was in shock.  
"Stay safe," Brendon muttered as they left.  
The hallway was complete chaos as the two hundred or so students that had stayed behind for Christmas rushed around checking on friends and getting back to their rooms.  
The four boys hurried down the staircase and through their own hallway. Ray stopped at his and Bob's door, but Bob insisted on walking Frank and Gerard to their room first.  
When Gerard finally closed the door behind him, cutting off some of the shouting and running that was going on outside, he immediately turned to Frank.  
"Are you okay?" he begged.  
Frank's brown eyes were wide and his hands were trembling.  
"I hate them so much, Gee. Why are they doing this? Why do they hate us so much?!"  
Gerard pulled Frank into a hug, one hand on the warm skin of his lower back and the other stroking his shivering wings.  
"We don't know it was them, Frankie. We can't- we can't jump to conclusions, okay?"  
"Who else would kidnap mutant kids?"  
"You're safe, Frankie. I'm not gonna let anyone get you. I'm right here, okay?"  
"I'm scared," Frank sobbed.

 

The halls were dead silent that night. No one was singing Christmas carols or talking too loud. The dance was cancelled and everyone was confined to their rooms while the teachers did a head count.  
Mr. Davies knocked on Gerard and Frank's door, looking them over quickly then checking them off on his list.  
"Sir, can you tell us-?" Gerard started to say.  
"There will be an announcement at breakfast tomorrow," Mr. Davies said grimly. "Try to get some sleep boys."

Mikey checked in with Gerard numerous times during the night, relaying messages from their friends and seeking reassurance.  
 _Mr. Thompson told Brendon that the police arrested the DJ that was hired for the dance._  
 _Did he confess?_ Gerard asked.  
 _No, but they can't think of who else it could have been._  
"What's he saying, Gerard?" asked Frank, who was watching him closely.  
"They arrested the DJ that was supposed to be for the dance."  
Frank made a face and tucked his head back into Gerard's chest.  
"Do you think he's AML?"  
"I don't know, Frankie."

 

The cafeteria was quiet during breakfast. The two hundred or so students that stayed at school mostly played with their food and shot each other glances. No one was talking about the gifts they had received that morning, or even trading rumors on the missing students. All the teachers were present, some sitting and eating while others stood by the doors.  
The low buzzing of muttered conversations dropped off into a complete silence when Mr. Thompson finally stood and faced the students. He cleared his throat.  
"As many of you have heard, two of your fellow students went missing yesterday. Annabell Scott and Ian Morris were last seen studying together in the library around 1 o'clock yesterday. The police have a suspect in custody, but if you know anything or saw anything that could help us find them, it's important that you let a member of staff know immediately."  
Mr. Thompson paused and glanced at the other teachers.  
"Your parents or guardians have all been informed, as well as all the students that went home for break. We're going to make the office phone lines available to you, so if you want to call home, please do." He cleared his throat again. "I know some of you want to go home.... After you've spoken to your parents or guardians and gotten their opinion, if you still want to leave this school, the paper work for your transfer back to a local school will be sent home with you."  
The students started buzzing at that, Mr. Thompson waved his hand to get their attention again.  
"Please keep in mind that we have a suspect in custody and that _no one_ outside of students and faculty will be allowed onto the school grounds for the remainder of the term."

The rest of the day passed slowly after that. Gerard and Frank, as well as Mikey and a few of their other friends, hung out in Bob and Ray's room. They took turns going down to the office to call their parents.  
Ray and Frank's parents both wanted them to come home, but Ray refused because his local school didn't have the programs and resources that Brian Schechter's did and he didn't want to give it up. Frank refused because he wasn't going to leave Gerard behind. Gerard's parents told him to be careful and look after Mikey.  
Brendon spent the entire day meditating and wouldn't talk to anyone. Even though he wanted to be alone, Ryan sat next to him the whole time and made sure he stayed calm.

Eight students boarded a bus to the airport the next day and the rest of the school spent the day buzzing about it.  
Three more students left the day after that.

 

"I can't believe this is happening," Ray sighed as they headed down to dinner. "I can't believe people are actually going home."  
"Well you can't blame them for not feeling safe here anymore," Gerard shrugged. Frank's wings bumped against his at they walked. The angel boy had been clinging to Gerard almost non-stop for three days.  
"I understand how they feel," said a smooth voice.  
The boys stopped to watch Gabe appear from a classroom door, looking upset.  
"I'm glad to see you've all decided to stay," he told them, stepping forward and setting a hand on Frank's bare shoulder. Gerard had to restrain the urge to knock it off.  
"It's my duty to inform you, however, that all of my future parties have been cancelled."  
"How come?" Ray asked.  
"The professors are instilling a curfew once the semester starts," Gabe told them. "But I've also cancelled them out of respect. Annabell and Ian were frequently seen at my parties and I feel that continuing on while they're missing would be highly disrespectful."  
"That's nice of you," Frank said.  
"You're too kind, Frankie," Gabe smiled. "I have to go inform the rest of my guests, but I hope to see you boys around still."  
Gerard gripped Frank's hand extra hard as they finished the trip to the cafeteria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I will no longer reply to comments that ask for updates.**


	36. In Which Everyone Adjusts

Frank and Gerard stayed in bed the day that the rest of the school returned. They didn't want to listen to the gossip or the worried voices.  
Frank was well and truly freaked out. Gerard, having not grown up around AML rallies and constant fear, spent most of his time comforting Frank. At one point he starting singing to Frank, softly in his ear, to drown out the sound of some girl crying in the hallway.

Mikey took the whole ordeal in a way no one would have predicted; he started talking again, and with almost no stutter.  
No one asked why because no one wanted to jinx it, but Mikey confided in Pete anyway.  
"Gotta- gotta be able to- to yell for help, r- right?" he muttered one night, putting on a fake smile.  
"If anyone tries to grab you Mikey, you yell for me and I'll burn 'em, okay?" Pete promised seriously. Mikey nodded.

Brendon begged a pack of tarot cards off his Time Alteration teacher and started practicing with them on anyone who would sit for him. He freaked out a few students so bad that they started avoiding him altogether. Brendon didn't notice though, he was too busy focusing on the future.

Bob seemed completely unfazed, even if he did start keeping a closer eye on his friends. Ray confessed to Bob that he was going to start working on tracking devices.

The friends of those who had been kidnapped starting sitting together at mealtimes, quiet and melancholy. All the other students gave them an odd sort of respect, not bothering them with questions and parting before them in the hallways.

The teachers tried to carry on classes, once the new semester started up in January, as normally as possible. Meditation became a refuge for many students who needed an hour or two to lose themselves in their heads and forget the lingering tension.  
Mr. Green started training his Combat 101 students with weapons. Gerard decided that if he had to learn to fight, he might as well learn as much as he possibly could.  
"If anyone tries to kidnap me or my friends," Bert declared after class, "I'll fuck them up."  
"Good for you, son," Mr. Green commended, "But watch your language, yeah?"

Gerard advanced to Drawing II on Tuesdays and Frank got put into a Power Control class on Monday and Wednesday afternoons so he could start to hone his light-power.  
"Mr. Bishop got all excited when I showed him," Frank told Gerard. "He thinks it might be a shield."  
"That's great, Frankie."  
Gerard thought again about his unknown power that he still couldn't reach. He had made absolutely no progress in his special sessions with Mr. Davies which left him aggravated to no end. Even Mr. Davies had started getting short with him, telling him that he wasn't trying hard enough.

Their exam results came back one week after term started. Frank and Gerard traded theirs because they were too nervous to look.  
"You aced Flight, just like I said," Frank smiled.  
"You did too."  
"How'd I do in Physics?" Frank asked, scrunching his face up and preparing for the worst.  
"C minus," Gerard reported.  
"I passed!"  
Gerard laughed and kissed his boyfriend on the cheek.  
"Alright," Gerard sighed after Frank calmed down. "Combat 101, gimme the damage."  
"B minus."  
"What? You're lying!"  
"I would never! Look!"  
Gerard snatched the paper from Frank's hand and glared at it. He had passed all his exams with at least a B minus, apart from a C in Physics.  
"Wow, we're fucking awesome!"  
"Yeah we are!" Frank shouted, throwing his hands into the air.

 

Slowly, after a few weeks, life got back to normal at Brian Schechter's. Classes continued, accidents happened, students flirted and fought.  
People still talked about it, but it stopped being the sole source of conversation.  
The teachers reported that the DJ was still in custody since he had no alibi for the day that Cate went missing. Almost everyone was convinced that he was guilty and didn't understand why he didn't just confess and tell the cops where the three students were.

A spokesperson for the AML released a statement saying that they were in no way connected to the disappearances and had no affiliation with the man in custody.  
The announcement seemed to put the teachers and parents at ease, but most of the students still held the AML responsible, no matter what they claimed.  
"It's like when you get old you retain the ability to lie but forget that other adults lie too," Ray grouched.  
"I don't care what anyone says," Frank agreed darkly, "No one would kidnap mutant kids except the AML."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shortest chapter ever I know I'm sorryyy  
> I felt shitty leaving you guys hanging on chapter 36, so have this while I work on the next batch of chapters <3
> 
> I think I'm gonna go back to writing classes for a while, would you guys be cool with that?


	37. In Which There Is Progress

"Gee! Gerard!"  
Frank burst into their room a split second after Gerard sat down at the desk.  
Gerard was nursing a sore arm that had a long scrape on it from where Quinn got too close with a knife in Combat 101, but he forgot all about it when Frank ran in. Frank was heaving like he had ran all the way from his Power Control class, eyes wide and wings puffed out.  
"What?" Gerard asked frantically.  
"Look! Look what I just learned to do!" Frank snapped and made his weird light appear, hovering over his palm.  
"Frank, you scared the crap out of me, I thought-"  
"Just watch!" Frank told him excitedly.  
Gerard focused on the glowing sphere. Frank took a deep breath and slowly lowered his other hand over the light, condensing it between his palms before carefully pulling away again. Balancing over his hand, where there was a sphere a few seconds ago, was a dagger made of light, about four inches long.  
"But I-" Gerard gasped. "I thought it was a shield!?"  
Frank beamed and carefully reached out to grab the shining handle of the little blade, holding it up before his eyes.  
"It can be whatever I want it to be," Frank said softly.  
"But is it, you know."  
"Sharp?"  
Frank grabbed a stray piece of notebook paper off the desk and dragged it across the edge of his dagger. The paper shredded easily.  
"That's- Frankie, that's amazing!"  
"I know!" Frank practically squealed. The dagger vanished in a flash of light. "Oh, shit. I gotta focus on it or it dissolves," he explained.  
"That's still really impressive," Gerard told him. Frank beamed.  
"Mr. Bishop said if I get any better I'll have to take Ethics next year, but whatever."  
"So that you know when it's acceptable to stab someone?"  
Frank laughed. "I guess so?"  
"Did you practice with your shield at all today?" Gerard asked, sitting back in the desk chair.  
"Oh yeah, I can get it to like three feet across now," Frank reported happily, bouncing onto the bed and making a face when he accidentally sat on one of his wings, pulling a few feathers out.  
"What does it look like when you do?"  
"It gets all transparent and like, shiny. It's still just as bright, but I can see through it once it gets all spread out. It's super cool."  
"That's awesome." Gerard flicked his eyes over Frank's wings. "You're wings still do that thing."  
Frank pushed a wing out to the side and grinned at how it shined.  
"I think it's pretty sweet."

 

Mr. Thompson and Mr. Bishop agreed that Mikey had made so much progress on his telepathic ability that now he could start working on his invisibility as well.  
"Why can't I just- just- just focus on my walls and st- stuff? I don't really care about- about being invi- visible."  
"You need to strengthen all faucets of your abilities," Mr. Bishop told him, "In order for them each to grow to their full potential."  
Mikey shrugged and went back to trying to make the apple in his hand disappear.  
Mr. Bishop had been confused after Mikey had demonstrated his invisibility for the class but then failed to make an object vanish.  
"But, why can't you make objects invisible?" he had asked.  
"I dunno, I never- never could."  
Mr. Bishop fixed him with an odd look. "You realize your clothes become invisible with you, right? Those are objects, what's the difference?"  
Mikey paused and looked down at his shirt. Now that he thought about it, when he went invisible he was never just a pair of clothes walking around.  
He looked back at Mr. Bishop and shrugged.  
Mr. Bishop smiled and shook his head. "We'll figure it out."

 

Ray sat at the desk in his and Bob's room, bent over a pile of tiny screws and circuit boards.  
Bob was lying in bed, folding small pieces of metal into intricate shapes to hone his control and pointedly ignoring Ray's numerous little annoyed huffs.  
After about twenty minutes though, he couldn't stand it anymore.  
"Alright," Bob groaned, tossing a spiral shape into the pile on his bedspread. "I'll bite. What's wrong?"  
Ray spun around and launched into a technical rant containing huge words and terms that he knew Bob didn't understand. Bob rolled his eyes and listened for about a minute before cutting him off.  
"Seriously, Ray, in _English._ "  
Ray let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.  
"The transponder is too small."  
"Which means..."  
"I can pick up the tracker for a while, but after about a mile I would lose it."  
"So how do you fix that?" Bob asked.  
"I'd have to make the device bigger, but if I make it any bigger it won't be, you know-"  
"Incognito?"  
Ray rolled his eyes. "Not the word I was looking for, but yes, essentially."  
"Well, how small is it now?" Bob asked.  
Ray held up a hand and made a circle with his first finger and thumb.  
"So, about the size of a watch."  
"Yeah. If I make it any bigger, I wouldn't really be able to fashion it into anything that someone could wear without drawing suspicion."  
"Well," Bob thought aloud, leaning forward a bit. "What's the biggest thing someone wears normally?"  
"Clothes," Ray answered immediately. "I can't hide this technology in fabric though."  
"Okay, second biggest thing someone wears?"  
"Jewelry, but I-"  
"No," Bob interrupted with a chuckle.  
"What?"  
"Something everyone wears and is so obvious that you totally overlooked it?"  
"I don't-" Ray began. He paused and suddenly his eyes grew wide. "Shoes!"  
"Shoes," Bob said contentedly, laying back into his pillow.  
"Bob! You're a genius!" Ray cried, spinning back around to pull apart what he had been building.  
"Yeah, I know it," Bob smirked.


	38. In Which Frank Has Opponents

There was a place in Frank's mind that he had never visited before he came to school at Brian Schechter's. It was where his light power resided.  
He still didn't know what to call it, properly. Maybe Gerard would help him come up with a neat name for it. But until then he just called it his light power.  
There was a room in his head that he found while meditating, and it was brimming with light and heat. The first time he found it he just stayed and basked in it for a while, until someone shook his shoulders. He came back to himself to find the whole meditation class staring at him and Mr. Thompson in front of him, eyebrows raised.  
Frank's wings had been glowing; shining with light. Gerard thought it was the coolest thing ever and Frank had to agree.  
So now, in his new Power Control class, he tapped into that room of light and heat as he snapped his fingers.  
The little flame of light over his thumb didn't dim the light in his head, but he knew once he got going with his practice, the light would dim until he would be too tired and cold to keep going. Mr. Bishop said that the more he practiced, the longer he would be able to keep it up.  
Frank transferred the small flame to his palm then made it into a circle. He positioned his other hand above it and then _stretched_ the sphere apart, making it grow and grow until he was completely encompassed in it, wings and all.  
The world looked amazing from inside his shield. Everything was shimmery and slightly flickery.  
"Ready?" Mr. Bishop asked, his voice sounding tinny through the translucent shield.  
"Yeah," Frank said, bringing his focus back to keep his shield up.  
They started off heavy, knowing he would weaken after a bit and it would be dangerous to try something too big after a few minutes.  
A boy shot flames at Frank and Frank soaked himself in the light from his mind to strengthened his shield, causing the flames to lick harmlessly around the edges.  
Next, a girl bombarded him with tiny balls of metal that she moved with her mind. They pinged harmlessly off his shield, falling to the floor of the classroom.  
Another girl stepped up and grinned at Frank. He blinked and pulled from the light in his mind, pushing it all into his shield.  
They stared at each other, and stared and stared. Frank could feel the light in his head dimming alarmingly fast. It was the mental attacks that always hit him the hardest.  
He only lasted a few moments before his light gave up on him and his shield dissolved. His mind filled with pain, but only for a split second until the girl realized his shield was gone and she stopped attacking.  
There was a chair positioned close for Frank to fall into, so he did. Someone handed him a blanket and he wrapped it around his back, under his wings, and then up around his chest to bury his face in it. He was _freezing_.  
"That was really great, Frank," Mr. Bishop praised. He slid Frank's chair a bit closer to the heater they had set up then patted him on the shoulder. "Next class we'll practice more with your weapons. For now you can take the rest of the day off."  
Mary was preening on the other side of the room. She was undefeated against Frank's shield, 3-0. He'd like to see her try and mentally stop the light dagger he was working on learning to throw.  
Mr. Bishop called the class to order and they all fell to practicing on their own.  
Billy, the boy with fire, was lighting candles from five feet away. Mary was battling another boy with mental powers, though it didn't look like it. They stood a few feet away from each other, staring, not moving except for the occasional finger twitch.  
Frank spent the rest of the class holding his hands near the space heater and watching Taylor practice her power. Frank could never remember the name of it.  
She would write or draw something in the notebook she always carried around clutched to her chest, then snap and the thing, whatever she had put in her notebook, would _appear_.  
She created a black and white vase of flowers, then a flickering taper candle. Taylor caught Frank watching so she created a tiny black and white bird that took flight from it's page and started flittering around the classroom. Frank grinned.  
A speech bubble appeared over the bird when it landed on Frank's knee. **Don't have my colored pencils today.** Which explained why everything was black and white.  
The bell rang for the end of class and everyone stopped their practice. Billy snuffed out his candles, Mary and her opponent apparently called a reluctant ceasefire and slowly blinked away from one another. Taylor snapped her book shut and her creations fizzled away.  
Frank stood and switched off the space heater then folded his blanket and set it back on a shelf. He smiled at Mr. Bishop on his way out then headed back to his and Gerard's room.  
He almost always beat Gerard to their room, since his class was closer and he didn't have to help put away whatever weapons they were working with in Combat 101 that day. At least he didn't get a call from Mikey saying Gerard was in the hospital wing again. Sometimes Frank thought Bert and his friends picked on Gerard deliberately, but Gerard said it was his own fault for being the worst fighter in the class.  
When Frank got to their room he fell right into bed and curled up under the blankets after kicking his shoes off. His wings, still glowing slightly from tapping into his light power, hung out over the side of the bed and he was too lazy to tuck them back in.  
Gerard entered the room a few minutes later, not injured thankfully. He kicked his shoes off and crawled into bed with Frank, pulling him close and draping a dark, leathery wing over them both.  
"You're so cold," he muttered.  
"Practiced my shield today," Frank answered, pressing his icy fingers against Gerard's throat.  
He hissed but didn't pull away, just wrapped his arms around Frank's bare torso and snuggled closer.  
"Who got you this time?"  
"Fucking Mary," Frank sighed. "She delights in it, I swear to God."  
Gerard chuckled, even though he knew he wasn't supposed to, and Frank punished him by pressing a freezing hand against his stomach.  
"Ah!"  
"That's what you get," Frank giggled.  
They fell silent for a while just breathing while Frank warmed up.  
"How was Combat?" he asked.  
"I'm getting better with the throwing weapons, but I still suck with those wooden sword things."  
"Mr. Green said I can skip the swords for now," Frank said, thinking of his own Combat classes. "I get to just practice throwing, since I'm practicing that with my light-dagger too."  
"How far have you gotten?"  
"Like two feet before the thing just dissipates. Mr. Bishop said it'll get better the more I practice."  
"All the teachers say that about _everything,_ " Gerard laughed.  
"It is kinda true though."

Frank fell asleep a little while later and Gerard made sure to tuck the blanket in around his shoulders and hold his hands close to warm him up. He smiled, kissed Frank's forehead, trusting Mikey to wake him up for dinner, then fell asleep too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look guys! A new chapter!  
> I wrote it a few days ago and just finally got to the library to use the wifi and post it lol  
> I hope you enjoy <3


	39. In Which The Boys Throw An Intervention

Jon pushed his corn and carrots around his plate and chewed on his lip. There was a stirring in his gut that he didn't understand, like some worry or fear he had forgotten about. He sighed and tried to take a bite of his dinner, but immediately gave it up as a failure. He pushed his plate away and glanced around at his friends.  
Spencer looked more surly than usual, his brow furrowed and his lips pursed while he stabbed at his meatloaf. Ryan was pushing his food around his plate and staring into it like it held the answers to every question in the world. He was leaning his head against his hand with his elbow set against the table top, tapping his sneakers against the floor.  
 _Missy?_  
 _Not Missy,_ the grey cat answered. She was sitting on the table across from Jon, curled up in a ball and licking intently at her left paw.  
 _Care to share?_ Jon asked.  
The cat looked up at him and blinked, then resumed licking her paw.  
 _Sapphire._  
 _Okay. Sapphire?_  
 _Yes?_  
 _Do you... feel that?_  
Sapphire The Cat closed her eyes for a moment.  
 _Yes, and I don't like it. Tell the thin boy to stop._  
 _Ryan?_ Jon looked up at his friend again and realized that the worry and fear was emanating from the empath unchecked and effecting everyone near him.  
"Hey, Ryan?"  
Ryan startled out of his reverie and glanced at Jon. "Yeah?"  
"You alright?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine."  
"You sure?" Jon pressed.  
Sapphire stood then and stepped gently across the table top. She brushed her head and neck against Ryan's shoulder then jumped down and settled under his seat.  
Ryan looked up at Jon in concern.  
"Is she mad at me?"  
 _Not mad,_ Sapphire chimed in. Ryan hadn't yet learned to pick up anything other than the most basic emotions from animals and couldn't always tell what the cat was trying to tell him.  
"She's uh... sort of irritated with you, I think," Jon said. "You're making everyone nervous."  
Ryan sat up straighter and looked around. Jon noticed as he did that Ryan had been spreading his nerves even farther than he thought. At the table next to theirs Frank was jittering in his seat, Gerard was looking deeply worried, Bob seemed pissed and Ray was twirling his fork around his pasta without making any attempt to eat it.  
"Oh, oh shit," Ryan muttered. "Sorry."  
He immediately started pulling it back into himself, letting everyone else feel their own emotions rather than his. At the next table Gerard let out a sigh of relief.  
"What's got you so upset?" Jon asked once the anxiety faded from his stomach.  
"I just... I'm worried about Brendon."  
"Where is he anyway?" Spencer asked, looking up from his food.  
"In our room, meditating. Still."  
"He's still upset that he didn't see those kids go missing?"  
"Yeah," Ryan sighed. "He thinks his power is slipping or something, he thinks he's losing it."  
"That doesn't happen," Jon said. "Powers only grow, they never disappear."  
"I know, and I've told him that, but he still insists that he has to practice and practice. When he's not in class, he's mediating or going over his old notes or doing fortunes and scrying and casting bones-"  
"Casting bones?" Spencer asked, eyebrows raised.  
"He read about it somewhere," Ryan admitted. "You take animal bones and like, roll them like dice and supposedly the pattern they make when they land will tell you stuff about the future."  
Jon could feel Sapphire's outrage at Brendon playing with animal bones, so Jon quickly changed the subject.  
"Has he actually seen anything?"  
"He won't tell me!" Ryan groaned. "He barely even talks to me anymore, he just mutters to himself all the time."  
"Have you talked to Mr. Thompson about it?"  
"I don't want him to get in trouble or anything. What if they think he's lost his mind or something and they ship him off?"  
 _Hmph,_ Sapphire muttered. Jon watched her crawl out from beneath Ryan's seat and set off for the cafeteria exit.  
"Uh, I think we should go talk to him," Jon said, pushing out of his seat to follow the cat.  
Spencer and Ryan followed him out of the cafeteria and up to Ryan and Brendon's room. Sapphire slipped through when they eased the door open, and they spotted Brendon sitting on his bed, meditating.  
"It doesn't matter," Ryan said. "He's already under and I don't know how to-"  
Sapphire hopped up onto the bed and yowled loudly. Brendon didn't flinch. Jon realized what she was going to do about a split second before she did it.  
"Don't-!"  
Brendon yelled out and his eyes flew open as Sapphire raked her claws down his forearm.  
"Ow! What the hell!" Brendon cried, clapping a hand over the row of bloody scratches.  
Sapphire hissed at him and Brendon suddenly seemed to realize he wasn't alone.  
"Oh, uh. Hey guys. I'm kinda busy. Jon why's your cat pissed at me?"  
"Brendon, we need to talk," Jon said, moving to sit on Ryan's bed across the small room. Spencer sat in the chair by the desk, leaving Ryan standing awkwardly by himself.  
"About?" Brendon asked.  
"Shouldn't you already know why we're here?" Spencer asked with an edge to his voice.  
Brendon shot him a dirty look.  
"We're worried about you," Jon said.   
"What? Why?" Brendon asked. "I'm fine."  
"Dude, no you're not. We haven't seen you in forever," Spencer said.  
"I've been-"  
"Meditating, we know," Spencer cut him off.  
Brendon looked upset. "Something bad is going to happen and I need to know how to stop it."  
"Something bad did happen," Spencer told him, pointing at his bloody arm. "And you were so busy looking into the future that you didn't even see it coming."  
"I'm not worried about little problems!" Brendon told him.  
"Since when, man?" Jon asked. "You didn't use to care about this shit. What happened to _everything will happen when it needs to_ and all the other stuff you used to say?"  
Brendon clenched his jaw. "I'm missing things, important things!"  
"Like hanging out with your friends?" Spencer asked. "Being a teenager? Having fun?"  
"Spencer's right, Brendon," Jon added. "Since when is it your job to save the world?"  
"I'm not trying to save the world I'm just trying to-"  
"Be a jerk and ignore your friends?" Spencer demanded.  
"I'm not- I'm not ignoring you guys," Brendon said, lowering his voice. "Am I?"  
"Brendon," Ryan said gently, speaking for the first time. "We've barely seen you in weeks. You don't even talk to me anymore."  
"I'm trying to protect you, Ryan," Brendon insisted.  
"How are you gonna protect me if you're not even around me?" Ryan asked. "You told me before that you see things when you're supposed to see them and not a moment sooner, remember?"  
"You saved Gerard's life and you didn't need to spend every spare moment meditating to do that," Jon reminded him.  
"I barely got there in time."  
"But you _did_ get there in time," Ryan pressed. "You saw it at exactly the right time, B. What's gonna happen when you're so busy looking at the big picture that you don't see the little stuff?"  
"But if I see the big picture ahead of time then I can plan-"  
"And you'll probably change everything and then it won't matter that you saw it anyway!" Ryan practically yelled. "Damn it, Brendon, you should know that better than anyone!"  
A stunned silence followed. Jon had never seen Ryan get angry before, and it was a little frightening.  
Brendon looked like he had just been slapped. He crumpled in on himself, looking very small and defeated.  
"I'm- I'm so sorry you guys," he said softly. "I'm just scared, you know?"  
"Everyone's scared," Jon told him. "We're all scared of what's happening. But we can't let it ruin our lives, you know?"  
"Besides," Spencer added, "The cops and the government are looking for whoever is kidnapping kids and they're probably gonna find them soon, right? And if anyone tries to hurt any of you I'll just Hide you."  
"I... Thanks, Spencer," Brendon said, smiling weakly.  
"So are you gonna stop it now?" Jon asked. "Are you gonna be less obsessed?"  
Brendon chuckled softly. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll knock it off. Thanks guys."  
"No problem," Spencer told him. He climbed to his feet and left the room, Sapphire following behind. Jon stood up and threw Brendon a smile before he left.

 

"I've been kind of an idiot, huh?" Brendon muttered once the door shut.  
"A bit," Ryan shrugged. "But I forgive you."  
Brendon blushed a little and Ryan smirked.  
"Thanks, Ry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first new chapter for a while! It's good to be back and I'm going to try and keep up with this story from now on.  
> P.S. Happy Halloween!


	40. In Which Everything Goes Wrong

"So," Bob smirked, sitting down with his breakfast tray and shooting a look at Frank, "Valentine's Day is tomorrow."  
"I'm flattered Bob, but you're not really my type," Frank chuckled, pulling his stool closer to the edge of the table.  
"Idiot," Bob said. "What are you getting Gerard?"  
Frank looked over his shoulder, pulling his wing out of the way a bit so he could see the breakfast line. Gerard's huge black wings were easily spotted.  
"I've got a surprise in mind," Frank answered, turning back to the table.  
"A sexy surprise?" Bob asked, eyebrows raising up to his hair line.  
"Like I would tell you if I did."  
"Like we would want to hear about it," Ray said, joining them. He slid into the booth across from Bob and rolled his eyes. "Why do you even care, Bob?"  
"I'm just making sure Frank doesn't get all pressure-y on Gerard," Bob said. "That kid's like a delicate flower or something and I know how this one-" he nodded at Frank, "-gets when he likes someone."  
"Oh come on!" Frank argued. "That was like one time, and I didn't know he was straight okay? He completely led me on. And of course I wouldn't pressure Gerard, seriously."  
"I just don't want to deal with the fall out if something goes wrong between you," Bob said. "I mean, it's tough enough having to deal with Ryan and Brendon pining for each other all the time."  
"Maybe tomorrow one of them will finally man up and do something," Frank grinned.  
"Maybe tomorrow someone will finally lock them in a closet for a few hours," Ray laughed.  
Gerard started across the cafeteria with his food then, so they changed the subject.

 

After dinner that night, Frank snuck off on his own, assuring Gerard he would meet him in their room in a little bit.  
Gerard headed upstairs by himself and fretted around their bedroom for a while, tid7ing things and picking feathers off the floor.  
He had his present for Frank all ready and he was trying to decide if he should give the new drawing to Frank that night or before breakfast the next day.  
He had just decided on doing it tomorrow when there was a soft knock at the door.  
It was Ryan and Brendon.  
"Hey guys, what's up?" Gerard asked, stepped away from the door so they could enter.  
"Where's Frank?" Ryan asked immediately.  
"Uh, I don't know. He said he would be back soon," Gerard admitted. "Why?"  
Brendon answered. "I think he's gonna get hurt soon, I can't really put my finger on it though. Like, like maybe the flu or he's gonna fall down some stairs."  
"What?" Gerard gasped.  
"It's all fuzzy, you know? I just- Where is he? We should keep an eye on him for the next day or two."  
"I don't know- Wait, hang on."  
Gerard reached out with his mind and found Mikey one floor down.  
 _Mikes?_  
 _Hey, what's wrong?_  
 _Can you find Frank for me? Brendon thinks he-_  
 _Got it,_ Mikey murmured. _Gimme a sec._  
"Mikey's looking for him," Gerard announced to the room.  
"Okay, good." Brendon sat at their desk and put his hand to his forehead. Ryan seemed nervous.  
"Everything's been kinda fuzzy lately," Ryan explained to Gerard, just for something to say.  
"Why is that, do you think?"  
"I don't know," Brendon shrugged. "Some things are crystal clear, like a pop quiz in Weather and Wind Patterns."  
Gerard mentally filed away that information for later, so he would remember to study.  
"But other stuff," Brendon continued, "like the next school year, or finals, or this summer even. Everything's all blurry the further away it gets."  
"But that's normal right?" Gerard asked. "It would make sense for far off stuff to be blurry."  
"It was never like that though," Brendon argued. "I used to be able to see what my mom would get me for my 20th birthday as clear as what I'd have for dinner tonight, but everything's off it's... line."  
"It's line?"  
Their conversation was interrupted by Mikey at that moment.  
 _Not anywhere. I can't find him,_ Mikey gasped. _I double checked and triple checked. He's not in the school grounds._  
"What?" Ryan demanded, sensing Gerard's distress.  
"He's gone."

The boys fidgeted anxiously as they waited. Mr. Thompson said that Mr. Schechter was coming down to talk to them and they had to wait.  
Mikey sat on a small couch, huddled close to Gerard's side. Ryan and Brendon sat together on the opposite couch. Ryan had his fingers on Brendon's wrist.  
They were in one of the teacher's lounges on the first floor. There were paintings on the walls and a water bubbler in the corner next to a mini fridge. Gerard pressed the sides of his shoes together and restrained himself from asking Ryan to help him calm down.  
The door flew open then and a short, dark haired man strode in.  
He wasn't anything like what Gerard had been expecting for the headmaster of a school. He wasn't old or boring looking, instead he looked around 35 and Gerard spotted tattoos peeking over the collar of his shirt.  
"Boys," Mr. Thompson said, stepping into the room behind the tattooed man, "This is Brian Schechter."  
Mr. Schechter pulled a chair away from a small desk near the back of the room and sat facing the two couches.  
"Brendon," he said gently. "I need you to tell me _exactly_ what you saw."  
"I didn't technically See anything, it was just a feeling," Brendon sighed. "I could feel Frank getting hurt, but I couldn't tell how or when, just that it was gonna be soon."  
"Hurt how, can you tell me?" Mr. Schechter pressed.  
Brendon shut his eyes just as Ryan grasped his wrist a little tighter.  
"His stomach aches, like he's gonna throw up," Brendon muttered. "His back hurts, and his head and feet and hands, which made me think that he was falling down stairs, but it's not- there's no vertigo, you know?"  
Brendon blinked open his eyes and frowned. "I'm not an empath. I should be seeing this, not feeling it."  
"Unless someone was blocking your sight," Mr. Schechter sighed. "You're friends with Frank, right? Closer to him than the other students that have gone missing?"  
"Yes, but-"  
"It would explain why there's some leaking through," Mr. Thompson cut in, staring hard at Mr. Schechter.  
"It would," the principal agreed. He turned to Gerard then.  
Gerard could guess what the question was before he asked it.  
"He didn't tell me where he was going," Gerard said. "Just that it was a surprise and he'd be back soon."  
"Any guesses?" Mr. Schechter asked.  
Gerard shook his head.  
"Do you think, maybe-" Ryan said gently, "that he might've gone into the city to get you something for Valentine's Day?"  
"He knows we're not allowed to leave though," Gerard argued. "And he's terrified of the AML. There's no way he would leave the school by himself."  
"The local police are already searching for him, but you're right Ryan, he might've-" Mr. Schechter paused and looked up at Mr. Thompson. "I posted officers all around the school but I never even considered the kids that could fly."  
"If he could fly out, anyone could fly in," Mr. Thompson muttered. "We didn't even think-"  
"You think they took him?" Gerard interrupted. "You think whoever took those other kids took Frank too?"  
"It's a possibility," Mr. Schechter told him gently. "I'd like to think that maybe he just left to get you a present, but we have to consider that he might've been kidnapped."  
Gerard turned to Brendon. "Do you see Frank giving me a present tomorrow? Or me giving him his drawing?"  
Brendon shook his head sadly.  
The door suddenly burst open and for a heart stopping second Gerard thought it would be Frank- but it was only Ray and Bob.  
"Where is he!?" Bob demanded.  
"Mr. Bryar, you need to calm down," Mr. Schechter ordered, standing up.  
"Where is he?" Bob asked again.  
"We don't know," the principal admitted. "Now _calm down_."  
Bob let out a deep breath and seemed to restrain himself. When he let go of the door handle Gerard could see that it had been crushed into the shape of Bob's grip.  
"How did you two know Frank was missing?" Mr. Thompson asked seriously.  
Bob clenched his jaw but Ray shot a glance at Mikey.  
"Mikey," Gerard muttered, "how many other people did you tell?"  
Mikey pursed his lips and shifted. _Just Pete,_ he admitted.  
"It doesn't matter, we need to lock the school down anyway." Mr. Schechter stepped past them all and left the room.  
Mr. Thompson hesitated before following after. "You boys can stay here for a while, if you'd like. If you go anywhere, it's to your rooms. You are not to go looking for Frank, do you understand me?"  
Everyone nodded, although Bob did so reluctantly.  
"Gerard," Mr. Thompson pressed. "Stay in the school. Watch out for your brother and we'll take care of looking for Frank, alright?"  
Gerard bit the inside of his cheek. Mr. Thompson had said the one thing that would stop him from searching for Frank on his own.... Watch out for Mikey.  
"Okay."

None of them could sleep, nor did they feel remotely like going to bed, so the six boys stayed together in the teacher's lounge well after the rest of the school had fallen silent.  
Occasionally a teacher would check in on them; Mr. Thompson, then Mr. Green, then Mr. Davies. None of them had anything to report about Frank.

It was almost 3am and Mikey was drooping against Gerard's shoulder when he suddenly bolted up, blinking in shock.  
"They found him," he said quietly with no hesitation or stutter.  
"What?!" demanded everyone at once.  
"He's- they- Gerard-"  
"Calm down, Mikey, take your time," Gerard urged.  
 _Cop found him. In the City. He's hurt. They're bringing him back here...._  
The door opened and Mr. Thompson stepped inside.  
"Boys, they found-" He paused and looked around at them all, alert and tense. He transferred his gaze to Mikey. "You're not supposed to spy, Mr. Way," he said sternly.  
Mikey didn't look even remotely abashed.  
"No matter," Mr. Thompson sighed. "They found Frank."  
"Where is he? I want to see him," Gerard demanded, standing up. His wings opened a bit on their own, sore from being pressed into the couch all night.  
"The officers just arrived with him, he's being brought to the hospital wing but-"  
Gerard rushed out the door and started running down the hall. He could hear his friends following behind and Mr. Thompson calling after them all to wait.  
Gerard's wings flapped of their own accord, giving him slight boosts as he ran so he occasionally went five or six feet without touching the tile floor.  
He finally slid to a stop in front of the hospital wing door, but was halted by Mr. Schechter.  
"Gerard, you can't see him yet. There's something you need to-"  
He was cut off by the arrival of Bob, Ray, Brendon, Ryan, and Mikey, with Mr. Thompson a few feet behind them.  
"Boys, you can't-" Mr. Schechter started, but Gerard used his distraction to dart around him and get inside the bright white room.  
Frank was lying on a hospital bed, bruised and bloody like he had gotten into a fight and lost. There were two police officers standing near his bed, as well as a nurse who was trying to tend to a cut on Frank's forehead.  
Frank was awake and as soon as he spotted Gerard he jumped up and tried to get across the room, but as soon as his feet hit the floor he stumbled and fell forward.  
Gerard dashed forward to catch him, and as he did he realized something was horribly wrong.  
"Frankie-"  
"Gerard," Frank sobbed, sitting on the floor and grasping Gerard so tight it hurt. He was shirtless like always, but his wings....  
"They're gone, Gee," Frank sobbed. "They took 'em. They took my wings!"  
Gerard pulled Frank closer and hesitantly brought a hand up to touch Frank's back.  
He didn't know what he was expecting; bloody stumps or maybe stitched up scars or _something_ , but there wasn't anything. His back was smooth and whole, like he'd never had wings to begin with.  
"They took 'em, Gee," Frank continued to cry. "They're gone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliff hanger! Sorry about that :)  
> I'm going to update a lot faster from now on and get this story finished up!


	41. In Which Frank Tells His Story

Haltingly, over the course of an hour or so, Frank told his story:  
He _had_ left the school to go into the city. He wanted to buy Gerard a new set of pencils. He explained to Mr. Schechter exactly how he had gotten out so they could make sure no one could get in that way. More guards were set around the school.  
Frank had landed on the side of the road not too far from the school and started walking into the city, looking for an art store. It was busy; rush hour traffic, lots of people out doing last minute shopping. Frank hadn't seen the people who grabbed him, but he remembered being pulled down an alley and shoved into a van.  
"White," he muttered. "Or maybe grey."  
They had roughed him up because he had fought back and tried to escape.  
"Then everything goes fuzzy, like I was drugged or something, but they didn't give me anything." Frank had a death grip on Gerard's hand, talking to the sheets instead of facing the principal and officers.  
"My vision kinda went all white, then completely black. I felt hands on my head. I mean, other guys were holding me down by my arms and legs and my- my wings, but," he cleared his throat, "the hands on my face were really hot."  
"You didn't get a look at any of your captors?" one of the officers asked, a pen poised over a clipboard. "Did they say anything or do anything identifiable?"  
"No," Frank insisted. "They didn't say anything, they just held me down in the back of that van. The person with the warm hands touched my head and then everything just goes blank and I-"  
Gerard rubbed his thumb over the back of Frank's hand reassuringly.  
"The next thing I remember is waking up, freezing, and feeling sick and off-center. I sat up but I still couldn't see right, but no one was holding me down anymore so I took off. I got out of the van and then someone grabbed my hand but I just," he paused to chuckle humorlessly, "I punched them and ran. I kept falling, you know? I couldn't get my feet under me and I kept...."  
There was silence for a moment while Frank chewed on his lip and glared at his bandaged hands.  
"I passed out, I guess, and when I woke up again I was in a police car being brought here."  
"Okay," Mr. Schechter said softly. "Thank you, Frank. We're gonna let you rest but I'm going to want to talk to you again in the morning, okay?"  
"Yeah," Frank mumbled.  
The adults cleared out then, leaving Frank looking tiny and defeated in the hospital bed, and Gerard sitting uselessly next to him.  
"Frankie, I-"  
"I'm so sorry, Gerard."  
Gerard looked up and stared. Frank seemed ready to start crying again.  
"What are you sorry for?"  
"I never should've left. I should've just stayed here with you and none of this would have happened. And now I'm just- I'm normal. I'm _human_.... There's nothing special about me anymore."  
"No, hey," Gerard said, anger in his voice. "You went out to get me a present, if anyone should be feeling guilty or sorry here it's _me_ , okay? And don't you dare give me that crap about not being special. Of course you're special, you're my Frankie. I don't care about any of the other stuff, okay?"  
"I can't fly with you anymore, Gee." It sounded like it broke his heart to say it.  
"I don't care Frankie. I'll stay on the ground with you, I don't care. You're mine and I'm not letting you go just because some asshole took your abilities."  
Frank crawled to the side of the bed and pulled Gerard onto it. Gerard maneuvered himself so he was laying on his side with Frank curled up in his arms. He pushed a black, leathery wing out and covered them both.

 

Frank was excused from classes for a week, staying in the hospital wing and recovering from his injuries.  
Gerard ate every meal there with him and stayed with him every night, ignoring the nurse who complained that he wasn't exactly allowed to sleep in the hospital wing if he wasn't sick or hurt.  
Mr. Schechter came back a few times to talk to Frank, asking specific questions about his captors or the van or about the person who apparently drained his powers. It got easier for him to talk about after a while, because it started to feel like something that had happened to someone else, or like he had dreamed it.  
Ray had offered up some of his t-shirts for Frank to wear. He got cold easily now, without his inner light and heat keeping him warm. He didn't like people seeing his naked, empty back either.  
The worst part of the week was when he had to start re-learning to walk.  
Ever since he was a kid he'd had wings on his back, weighing him down and pulling him back. Now his center of gravity had changed and he kept stumbling forward.  
Gerard offered to help, but Frank shook his head. He felt stupid enough as it was without his boyfriend helping him walk. Instead he practiced on his own, swearing at the tile floor whenever he fell, but always pulling himself back to his feet to push on.

 

The school was buzzing with rumors and gossip. For the first time in a while people were talking about the other kids who had been kidnapped, but instead of fearful and sad, the general tone was curiosity and anger.  
Everyone wanted to know what powers the missing kids had before they had been taken, because everyone was sure they didn't have them anymore. Everyone wanted to know why someone would strip powers away from mutant kids and why those specific kids had been chosen or if it was just convenience.  
But mostly, every student was angry.  
Angry at the teachers and staff for not protecting them. Angry at the police for not doing their jobs. Angry at the government for being so lenient on anti-mutant protesters.  
And angry at the Anti-Mutant League, because not a single student had any doubt anymore over who had been kidnapping mutant kids. No one else would strip powers from mutants except the AML, they were sure.  
Protests were heating up all over the country. Mutants had started fighting back against the men and women that threatened and harassed them. The government was divided, citizens were turning against one another. The whole country felt like it was on a tipping point.

 

Tucked up in the corner of his bed, Brendon sat with his notebook, tracing the same cab company symbol over and over. He was so anxious he felt like he was going to be sick at any minute. His hands shook so that his drawing was crude and uneven.  
"It's happening," he muttered to Ryan. "Everything's coming to a head, and it's gonna happen soon."


	42. In Which Frank Tries To Adjust

"Everyone's staring," Frank muttered.  
Gerard glanced around at the cafeteria. It was Monday morning and everyone was already awake and getting in some last minute homework or studying over their breakfasts.  
"Ignore them," Gerard muttered back, redoubling his grip on Frank's hand. He wished he could have wrapped his wings around the both of them to hide, but Frank said he was ready to go back to school and Gerard had to accept that.  
Frank stared at his chair for a moment, the one that Bob had bent the back rest down for him so it wouldn't get in the way of his wings. He chewed on his tongue and slid into the booth, leaving his chair empty.  
Gerard took his usual chair, spun backwards so his chest was against the back rest, and scooted close to the table. He wasn't going to take Frank's chair.  
Bob and Ray were close behind them with trays of food. They sat across the table from Frank and Bob deftly slid him an apple, trying to get him to eat something.  
Frank wasn't hungry.

 

Their first class was Meditation.  
Mr. Thompson pulled Frank aside as soon as the two boys entered the room. Gerard headed towards the back row and settled on his cushion.  
"Listen, Frank," Mr. Thompson started, "I want you to meditate like usual today, but just to find your center. I don't want you looking for your powers, alright?"  
"Yeah," Frank muttered. He cleared his throat and remembered himself. "Yes, sir. I won't."  
"Okay, good." Mr. Thompson squeezed his shoulder for a brief moment. "You don't need to torture yourself like that."  
Frank nodded then headed for the back of the room. He didn't need to arrange any desks to settle on, since he no longer had to worry about his wings hitting the floor, so he simply dropped onto the cushion next to Gerard.  
"Hey," Gerard said gently, reaching out for his hand. "Are you alright?"  
"Fine, you know," Frank sighed.  
He wasn't fine though, not at all. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat. He was jumpy and anxious, depressed and tired. He didn't feel comfortable in his body anymore, because it just wasn't _his_ body. It was as if he was woken up blind or without legs. He just wasn't whole.  
Last night he had been able to go back to his room with Gerard and they had immediately climbed into bed together. Frank realized that he could be the little spoon for once, so they tried it but they ended up deciding that they didn't like not being able to see each other. He tried laying on his back, but it made his head hurt and his stomach swoop. Eventually they just curled up facing each other like they always had, Gerard extending a wing over them both.  
Frank had laid awake for hours watching Gerard's eyes twitch behinds his lids, his mouth pushed into a little pout. Frank had wanted to wake Gerard up, just so he wouldn't be alone all night, but he just couldn't bring himself to. He ended up ghosting a finger over the inside of Gerard's wing, barely touching the skin and tracing the thin bones.  
He missed his wings.

Frank tried to focus his mind and settle his thoughts. He was supposed to be meditating.  
He deepened his breathing and was able to calm down a bit, letting his worries lift away. He knew he wasn't supposed to be working on anything exactly, just relaxing. Mr. Thompson had told him not to look... but he couldn't help it.  
Frank searched out the door to his room of light and heat, the comfortable place in his head where he could just bask. He knew exactly where the door was, but he hesitated outside of it.  
What would he find if he went in? Would there be anything at all? Or maybe just a dull, dying light giving off no heat? What if his power was just hiding behind the door and if he just found it again then he could get it all back....  
He pushed against the door but nothing happened. He pushed harder, but it didn't budge.  
 _What?_ he thought. The door had always opened at his touch, the wall between his conscious and his power falling away at the slightest nudge. But now the door was locked.  
Frank started banging against the door, throwing his full mental weight against it, but nothing he did-  
"Frank!"  
He startled, eyes flicking open and hands flying up to defend himself.  
Mr. Thompson jumped back, watching as Frank came back to himself.  
"I told you not to look," the teacher sighed.  
Frank realized the whole class was staring at him and that his face was wet. He reached up slowly and found cool tears on his cheeks.  
He had started crying in his meditation.  
Frank climbed to his feet unsteadily and walked out of the classroom.  
Gerard ran after him.  
"Frank! Frankie, wait."  
Frank spun around and almost fell to his knees, but balanced himself at the last second. He noticed that Gerard had reached out to steady him and for some reason it made him angry.  
"Just- leave me alone for a while, okay Gerard?"  
Frank walked away, leaving Gerard standing by himself in the hall.

 

Frank didn't show up for Flight class, but Gerard hadn't really expected him to. Mr. Stevens gave Gerard a sad, small smile. The expression was at odds with his pearly skin and bright face.  
Gerard went through his exercises and maneuvers without any energy. Flight class wasn't the same without Frank flitting around him, joking and trying to mess him up.

Gerard found Frank at their table in the cafeteria before almost anyone else had arrived. He didn't bother getting food, he simply crossed the room and sat down, pulling his chair as close to Frank as possible.  
Frank didn't say anything, but he let Gerard hold his hand. After a few minutes Frank leaned over and set his head on Gerard's shoulder, just above his collarbone, and stayed like that for the rest of the lunch period.  
"We're gonna get through this, Frankie."


	43. Is Which Frank Has Had Enough

Frank hesitated outside the door to his Power Control class. There was really no reason for him to go in... but he had already skipped or walked out of his other Monday classes.  
A soft hand on his shoulder made him spin, hands jumping up in front of him.  
"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you!"  
It was Taylor, and she was wearing a small smile. Her notebook and pencils were held securely against her chest like always and she reached out again to lower Frank's defensive hands.  
"Sorry," Frank muttered. "I just, you know."  
"I get it," she quickly smiled. "Are you going in?"  
Frank frowned at the classroom door.  
"I don't know."  
"You can sit with me if you want?"  
Frank bit his lip but ended up shrugging. "Yeah, alright."

Mr. Bishop seemed at a loss for what to do with Frank once class started. He looked like he wanted to say something caring and sentimental, but couldn't find the words. He ended up giving Frank a forced smile and clapping him on the shoulder before moving away to help the other students.  
Frank sighed.  
"Does it bug you?" Taylor asked.  
"What?"  
"How different everyone's being around you now."  
He watched her open her notebook and set it delicately on her knees. She started sharpening a pencil.  
"Yeah," Frank admitted.  
"I got that at first too, but eventually everything will go back to normal... or as normal as it can get."  
Frank furrowed his brow. "What are you talking about?"  
Taylor hesitated and brushed a few pencil shavings to the floor.  
"My friend, Cate. She went missing first."  
"I- I'm sorry, I didn't realize-"  
"No, it's okay," Taylor interrupted, smiling brightly at him. "I haven't given up hope that we'll find her. Especially since you came back."  
"I just fought back," Frank muttered.  
"But they just took your powers, don't you see?" Taylor pressed eagerly. "All this time I thought Cate had been taken and that whoever- that they had- had killed her. They didn't kill you Frank."  
"They might've been planning to," Frank said, hearing the words coming out of his mouth and unable to stop them.  
"No," Taylor said determined. "If they wanted to, they would have done it. I know Cate is out there somewhere, I believe it now. They have her holed up somewhere, keeping her captive."  
"How are you gonna find her?" Frank asked.  
Taylor turned to grin at him.  
"If I know Cate at all, she's been biding her time and setting up her escape. She'll come back soon, just like you did."  
Frank didn't know what to say to that. Taylor's fierce determination and faith in her friend had struck him to the core.  
What was he doing just moping around, feeling sorry for himself? His attackers were still out there, still able and willing to snatch kids and wipe their powers.  
He had to grow up and find a way to fight back.

Frank walked into Combat 101 on Thursday with a determined stride. His jaw was clenched, his fists were balled up.  
Mr. Green spotted him immediately.  
"Frank! Just the man I wanted to see."  
"I think we should start learning self defense," Frank said. "And not the hand-to-hand combat we already did last term. I mean how to defend yourself if someone grabs you from behind or tries to hold you down."  
Mr. Green's face split into a proud grin and he nodded.  
"That's just what I was thinking. If you're up to it, I'll ask you to show me exactly how you got jumped, and we can start there."  
Frank nodded determinedly.  
"Absolutely."

 

Mikey watched from afar that week as Frank seemed to go from victim to... he didn't know what.  
Frank seemed to harden and mature within the space of a few days. He stopped flinching when people snuck up on him and instead kept a closer eye on his back, so no one could get close without him knowing. He had convinced Mr. Green to alter his classes so that everyone in the school was learning self defense.  
He had sought out Gabe and asked him for help.

 

Gerard had been so upset to learn that Frank had went behind his back to talk to Gabe. He still didn't trust him, didn't like the acquisitive glint in his eyes when he read other people's powers.  
When he confronted Frank about it, instead of getting angry- Frank had gotten excited.  
"We're putting together a sort of... club," Frank had confessed. "Kids with powers that can defend and protect to walk the halls during their free periods and after dinner. To keep an eye out for the other kids."  
"But that's what the staff is for, and the officers outside the school. They're there to keep us safe."  
"We can't rely on them anymore, Gee," Frank insisted, grabbing Gerard's hands with his own and squeezing. Gerard still wasn't used to Frank's skin being cold. "We have to watch out for ourselves and our friends. Gerard, when I was grabbed I fought like hell and it made no difference, you know why?"  
Gerard cringed. Frank hardly ever brought up the attack.  
Frank pressed on without needing Gerard's answer.  
"Because I was alone, Gee. I had no one to fight with me."  
"I would have fought with you, Frank," Gerard told him.  
"Then help me with this. We need to make this school safe for our friends. The teachers can't do it on their own and I don't trust the cops. We need to defend ourselves."  
Gerard gripped Frank's hands tightly, trying to warm him.  
"Okay Frankie. I'll help you."

 

Frank looked around at the group of twenty or so students that they had gathered in an empty classroom. Some of them were large and muscled, like Bob, while others were lean and lithe, like Bert. They all had a hard look in their eyes.  
"Alright," Frank said. "The reason we sought you out and asked you to come here is because each of you has the power to protect and defend."  
There were some nods and a few grunts of assent. Gabe was watching everyone closely, cataloging powers and strengths.  
"The time has come," Frank continued, "Where we have to start taking care of ourselves and our fellow mutants. We can't leave this to the adults anymore. We can't trust the police to come to our rescue. We need to make sure none of us ever needs saving again!"  
A few students cheered at Frank's declaration.  
"The plan," Frank said, starting to pace, "is to patrol the hallways, the library, the cafeteria, the grounds... and to keep anyone from being taken again. You'll be in pairs or groups at all times, no one goes out alone anymore. Gabe has already started spreading the word to the rest of the school- stick with your friends, don't wander out on your own, watch your back."  
Gabe nodded soberly. Frank stopped pacing and turned back to his small audience.  
"But most of the students in this school can't protect themselves. Combat training only gets you so far. When I was grabbed it was four guys against one. There were no rules, no fair play, no teacher to call a stop to the fight if it got out of hand. I fought back the best I could and I just barely escaped. I was alone and unprepared. That can't ever happen again."  
The students assembled in front of Frank were watching him closely, hanging on every word.  
"We know what they're after now, and we know how they strike." Frank took a deep breath. "Those of us that can't fight," he continued, motioning to himself and Gabe, "will continue to get the word out and make sure kids stay in groups at all times. But your job-" he pointed to the group, "-is to be a presence. Be intimidating, show that you're not scared. No kid is allowed to get attacked on your watch. No asshole is going to sneak into our school and kidnap our friends! Not anymore!"  
There were more cheers at his words. The students were hyped up now, ready to fight. Frank took a moment to draw them back down.  
"Now, I'm not telling you to skip classes or ignore your homework and studying. This is a school, and the reason we need to protect it is so that it can remain a school, and so kids can focus on learning without fear."  
Frank stepped back then and let Gabe take center stage.  
"We'll be dividing you into groups based on abilities. You will patrol with your group or not at all. We don't need heroes, we need protectors. Each group will be given a section of the school to monitor and these sections will overlap so that we have no blind spots. Watch over your peers and be on the look out for anything suspicious."  
He cleared his throat and looked them all over.  
"If any of you starts to slip with your school work, you'll be rotated out of your group until you bring your grades back up. The last thing we want is for the teachers to shut us down, and like Frank said, this is a school and we're going to make sure it stays that way."  
Frank stepped up again and gave the students before him a fierce glare.  
"So, who's with us?"


	44. In Which Ray Is A Genius

Ray sat at the desk in his and Bob's room. Gerard was laying on his stomach on Bob's bed, reading from his History textbook.  
The Protectors, as some students had started calling them, had warned against being alone at any time, even in their bedrooms. So, to set a good example, Ray had asked Gerard to join him while Bob when out to patrol with his group and Frank went with Gabe to speak to more students.  
Gerard wasn't happy about Frank's new project, that much was obvious, but he hadn't said a single word against it yet. Frank had found a focus and determination, and Gerard preferred that to the short lived scared and jumpy kid he had been after he was attacked.  
So Gerard played along. He never went anywhere alone and he didn't complain about Frank spending so much time with Gabe, even though everyone could tell he didn't trust the older boy.  
Ray had wondered about Bob's participation in The Protectors, considering how he felt about Gabe. Gerard had even confronted him about it.

"He stole a peek at your powers, remember?"  
"Of course I remember," Bob said gruffly.  
"Then how can you trust him?" Gerard demanded. "What if he's helping them? What if he's the one stealing powers because he's- I dunno- jealous because he can't do anything useful-"  
"Gerard," Bob interrupted. "We have to trust each other, if no one else."  
Gerard frowned. "Why did you suddenly decide to trust Gabe?"  
"You don't think I didn't have the same suspicions about him? I checked into it. Dozens of students saw Gabe in the cafeteria while Frank was gone, and Mikey told me he stayed in the school the entire night."  
Gerard looked sort of embarrassed then.  
"Gabe's gotten better too, he doesn't trick people into revealing themselves anymore. And Frank trusts him, so that should be enough for you."

Ray spun a tiny ball of wires in his hand for a moment.  
The school had begun to feel safer in the last week or so. Students were traveling in groups and watching their backs. The Protectors prowled the hallways, looking intimidating and strong, giving kids a peace of mind. The teachers had noticed the difference but seemed content to let them carry on. If anything, most student's grades had started to improve now that they felt safer.

That didn't mean that Ray had given up on his tracking device however.  
"I think I've got it," he finally sighed.  
Gerard looked up from his text book. "Really?"  
Ray nodded, not taking his eyes of the rectangle of metal and wires in front of him.  
Gerard clambered to his feet and came over to look.  
"How does it work?"  
"It puts out a tiny signal, something weak and quiet that won't get picked up by anyone searching. It's a sort of... tone. I can pick out the unique frequency with a thought and I should be able to find it even if it's miles away."  
"Should we test it?" Gerard asked.  
Ray smiled. "Sure."

They found Quinn and Jepha having a late lunch in the cafeteria and asked them to help.  
"So," Ray said, sitting down at their table, "Jepha and Gerard will take the tracker and go hide somewhere in the school. In ten minutes, Quinn and I will some track you down, sound good?"  
The two boys seemed eager to help, and quickly agreed.  
Gerard and Jepha walked off with Ray's transponder hidden in Gerard's backpack. Ray turned to Quinn.  
"So how's Bert liking Protection detail?"  
Quinn smiled. "He loves it actually. He's proud to be able to do some good, you know?" He chuckled. "Some girl stopped us in the hall yesterday and thanked him and Jepha and Dan for protecting the school. I don't think I've ever seen Dan blush so hard before."  
Ray laughed. "That's great. Bob's in his element with this whole thing. He's always been protective, but I think it stems mostly from growing up with Frank as a best friend."  
"I bet," Quinn nodded. "How is Frank, anyway? He seems to be doing a lot better now."  
"He is, he's got his fight back.... I just wish he didn't have to lose his powers."  
"I can't even imagine," Quinn shuddered. "If I lost my enhanced senses I don't... I don't know what I'd do."  
"Tell me about it," Ray grimaced.  
They chatted for a few more minutes before standing up and leaving the cafeteria.  
Ray reached out with his mind, sensing every bit of technology around him.  
A cell phone, a wrist watch, a hand held game, the wires running through the walls, the lights in the ceiling.... He listened for the frequency he had made.  
"There, got it."  
"You found them?" Quinn asked.  
"Yeah, come on. I can't pin point it, but I can follow it."  
They paced through the halls, skirting around groups of students and nodding at the Protectors that were patrolling the hall.  
Ray paused every so often, cocking his head to the side and closing his eyes before pointing and saying "this way."  
They found Gerard and Jepha hiding behind a shelf of mystery novels in the library. The irony was not lost on Ray.  
"It worked!" Gerard whisper shouted, conscious of the librarian shooting them looks.  
"You're a genius, Ray Toro," said Jepha, grinning.

Ray thanked Jepha and Quinn for their company, then hurried back to Ray and Bob's room.  
"So I'll start making more," Ray said, setting the transponder gently down on the desk.  
"Who's gonna get the first one?" Gerard asked.  
"I was thinking... Mikey?"  
Gerard looked confused for a moment before understanding crossed his face.  
He had already almost lost Frank, he couldn't let anything happen to Mikey too.  
"Thank you, Ray."

It was simple, once they called Mikey and Pete up to Ray's room.  
They sliced open the inside of Mikey's shoe and pulled out some of the layers before slipping the device inside and covering it up again.  
"What do you think?" Gerard asked as Mikey paced the room as if they were shoe shopping.  
"Not too b- bad. I can tell it's- it's- it's there, b- but it doesn't hurt."  
"Perfect. If you leave the school grounds I'll be able to find you, as long as you keep your shoe on."  
Mikey smiled and thanked him.  
"Make sure you don't tell anyone," Gerard reminded the two boys. "It's only effective if it's a secret so that no one can take it from you, got it?"  
"Got it," Mikey said.

After Mikey and Pete left, Ray turned back to his desk, covered in metal and wires and screws.  
"Tracking device number two, coming right up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are fast approaching the end, so hold on to your seats!


	45. In Which Frank and Gerard Fight

Gerard walked into Meditation alone for the second Monday in a row. Frank had stopped bothering to turn up to some of his classes, skipping Mondays altogether.  
He still went to his normal classes, like History and Geometry. But the classes that had anything to do with his missing powers, he ignored.  
The first few times the teachers had asked Gerard about it.  
"Where's Frank?"  
"He's not coming to class."  
And that was it. They dropped it. Gerard figured that the teachers felt so bad for Frank that they were letting it slide, but he had to wonder what would happen come next fall.  
Frank was human now... and Brian Schechter's was a school for Mutant students only. Neither he nor Frank had mentioned it yet, but with Spring approaching Gerard knew it was only a matter of time.

"You're in with Mr. Davies today, Gerard," Mr. Thompson told him as he entered the classroom.  
Gerard nodded and veered off to the door behind the teacher's desk.  
Mr. Davies was waiting for him, seated in a wooden chair with a clipboard balanced on his knees.  
"Mr. Way," he greeted. "Any luck with your meditations lately?"  
Gerard restrained the urge to flop down on the couch stomach first, and instead sat down while carefully avoiding his wings.  
"No, I've been sort of distracted," he admitted.  
Mr. Davies jotted something down on his clipboard.  
"I can understand why, with all the... commotion."  
Gerard just nodded.  
"Mr. Iero seems to be doing fine though. He's certainly become a rallying point for the student body."  
"He doesn't want anyone else to go through what he did," Gerard said.  
"Have you two talked much about what happened?" Mr. Davies asked gently.  
Gerard briefly wondered when his practice session had turned into a therapy session, but answered anyway.  
"I was with him when he told Mr. Schechter and the police, but he doesn't really like to talk about it."  
"It must have been hard for you to see him go through that. Are you worried about your other friends, or your brother? Or yourself?"  
Gerard smiled a grim smile.  
"No. I... I think with The Protectors and everyone else looking out for each other... there won't be any more missing kids."  
Mr. Davies gave him an encouraging smile.  
"So," the teacher said, changing the subject. "The last time we met you hadn't made any progress on breaking down your mental wall, correct?"  
"Yeah." Gerard frowned to think about how much things had changed since then. The last time he had met with Mr. Davies was the Wednesday before Frank went missing.  
"Sometimes, in times of stress or change, people find it's easier to grapple with a problem that once seemed insurmountable."  
Gerard didn't feel like much about his mental block had changed, but the teachers usually knew what they were talking about.  
"So," Mr. Davies continued, "We'll try again. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and locate the block... try to find it's weakest point...."

 

Ray's mind drifted during Algebra II. He stopped thinking about the equations on the board and spent a moment flicking his thoughts out to touch his tracking devices.  
Ryan, check.  
Brendon, check.  
Gerard, check.  
Mikey, check.  
Everyone was within the school, safe and sound. He was working on the next device to give to Jon and was hoping he'd have it done before bed the next night.  
The teacher called Ray's attention back to class and he flushed, quickly focusing enough to give the right answer.  
Once the attention had turned away from him he went through the list again.  
Ryan, check....

 

Gerard fell onto his and Frank's combined beds without bothering to kick his shoes off.  
The days seemed longer now, without Frank by his side in classes or skipping up to him in the halls. He was glad that Frank seemed to be recovered, but he missed his boyfriend.  
Now, Frank spent almost all his time either doing homework, studying, or working with his precious Protectors.  
At night he was usually so exhausted that he just went straight to sleep, barely saying five words to Gerard. Regardless, Gerard still held him close at night and wrapped him in blankets and his wings. Frank was always so cold now....

Gerard considered getting up to go to dinner, but quickly dismissed the idea. He wasn't very hungry.  
Not five minutes later, Frank burst into the room.  
"Gerard!"  
Gerard lifted his head off the pillow. "What?"  
"Why aren't you at dinner? And why are you alone? You're not supposed to be on your own, Gee!"  
Gerard let his head fall back onto his pillow, shutting his eyes.  
"I'm not hungry."  
"You should have told someone, you can't just disappear!"  
Gerard sat up and stared at Frank. It was so odd seeing him standing in the doorway wearing one of Ray's faded old band shirts. Without his huge white wings filling up the space in the door frame, he seemed so much smaller... or bigger. Gerard couldn't decide.  
"I didn't disappear, Frank. I'm in our room, alright?"  
"You should have let me know if you-"  
"Let you know? How?! I hardly even see you anymore, let alone get a chance to talk to you!"  
"I've been working my ass off to make this school safe for you and everyone else in it!" Frank shot back.  
"You're sixteen, Frank! It's not your job to save the world, okay?"  
"Well it's not like anyone else is bothering to try!"  
"And you know," Gerard continued, "It might be nice if you sought your boyfriend out once in a while just to _be with him_ instead of yelling at him for skipping dinner when _you've_ been skipping half your classes!"  
Frank stepped into the room and slammed the door behind him.  
"What do you want me to do, huh? Sit on the sidelines and watch you show off your wings in flight class, or tap your powers in meditation? I don't belong here anymore, you shouldn't even be with someone like me. I'm a fucking human!"  
Frank grabbed the closest thing to his hand- a Geometry textbook- and hurled it across the room.  
Gerard ducked out of the way then jumped to his feet.  
"How can you even say that! You think- what? You think I wouldn't want you anymore now that you're not a mutant? I told you I don't care about that!"  
"Well maybe I do!"  
A sharp ringing silence followed Frank's shout. Frank was breathing heavily, like he had just run from one end of the school to the other. Gerard's wings were starting to creep around him, instinctively wanting to hide him away like he hadn't had to do for months.  
"Are you saying," Gerard whispered, "that you don't want to be with me anymore... because I'm a _mutant_?"  
Frank clenched his jaw and balled up his fists. If he still had his wings, they would have been puffed out to try and make him seem bigger. Gerard expected him to start yelling again, or to throw something else. His mind was already leaping ahead of him, thinking about them moving their beds apart. Frank ignoring him in the halls. Frank moving back to Chicago, never to be heard from again.  
The last thing he expected was for Frank to collapse like a marionette with it's strings cut.  
He fell, knees hitting the floor hard and arms coming up to wrap around his thin chest. Gerard was frozen for half a second until he realized Frank had started to cry.  
"Oh, Frankie...."  
Gerard rushed across the room and knelt in front of him, wrapping him up in his dark wings and pulling him close.  
"No, Frankie, I'm so sorry. Please, I didn't mean- please don't cry...."  
"I'm the only human in this entire school," Frank sobbed. "Do you have any _idea_ what that's like? People- people treat me different. _Look_ at me different. I don't belong here anymore."  
"You idiot," Gerard sighed, with words bouncing around inside the tight cocoon he had them in. "Is that why you've been avoiding me? Because you thought I'd treat you different?"  
Frank's sad confession came out for the second time, half whispered, half sobbed.  
"I can't fly with you anymore. I've never gonna be able to do that again."  
Gerard grabbed Frank's head with both hands, forcing him to look up.  
"If I have to choose between you and my wings, I'll cut them off myself."  
Frank fell forward against Gerard's chest and started sobbing even harder. Gerard held him tight, muttering "I love you, I love you, I love you, Frankie..." over and over.

Their bedroom door flew open and they both jumped, Gerard's wings fluttering back so they could see who had burst in.  
It was Ray, and he looked horrified.  
"Ray, what's-" Gerard started to ask.  
"Mikey," Ray said, his eyes wide with fear. "His tracker is getting further and further away. Someone took him!"


	46. In Which Frank Takes Charge

Gerard sat perfectly still while Frank issued frantic orders to Bob and his group of Protectors. Ryan was sitting next to him, fingers resting gently on his wrist to keep him from panicking. Brendon's hands were shaking. Ray had his eyes closed, muttering while Quinn bent over a map with a pencil.  
"Alright," Frank said shakily, turning to the room. "The Protectors are going to lock down the school and alert the teachers about five minutes after we slip out. They found Pete in his room, knocked out and freezing. Patrick's working on him until they can get the nurse. We're gonna have about ten minutes to do this and get clear before someone notices something's up."  
"Which exit?" Gerard asked calmly.  
Frank turned to Brendon.  
"Not the main door," Brendon said, unnecessarily. He held his hand out and tilted his head as if he was trying to touch something in front of him that wasn't really there. "Back exit's covered. Every normal way in and out. They're not covering the woods."  
"We have to get out, across the field, into the woods, to the outer wall and over it without being seen?" Frank summed up.  
"Any other path and we'll get caught."  
Frank's eyes flicked around for a second, like he was doing mental calculations. "We'll need Spencer, and you, Quinn."  
"Anything you need," Quinn answered, quickly looking up to nod at Frank before focusing on his map again. Ray continued muttering directions to him.  
Frank nodded back then started pacing.  
"Okay... Gerard, me, Bob, Ray, Quinn, Spencer, and Bert. We need to be ready to leave in two minutes."  
Bob turned and left the room, heading to find Spencer and Bert.  
"Ray?" Frank prompted.  
"Still on the move," Ray muttered. "Left turn."  
Quinn marked the turn on his map.  
Gerard sat in a kind of stupor, watching everything unfolding so fast in front of him. He was glad that Frank knew what he was doing, because Gerard had no idea. He could barely breathe.  
Frank moved toward the two boys seated on the bed.  
"Ryan?" he asked.  
"The effects will linger for a few minutes, but then he'll be on his own," Ryan said, shaking his head.  
"Okay, that will get us out of the school at least." He turned to Gerard then. "Hey, Gee?"  
Gerard looked up drowsily.  
"Everything's gonna be fine, okay? We're gonna get Mikey back real soon. I promise."  
"I trust you, Frankie," Gerard murmured.  
"Can you ease up on him a bit?" Frank asked Ryan.  
The thin boy shook his head. "It's for his own good. He can't handle the level of freaking out he's doing right now."  
"Okay," Frank agreed. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"  
"Brendon said I can't," Ryan said simply.  
Frank nodded, unhappily. "Okay."  
Quinn spoke up. "How are we going to get anywhere after we hop the wall? It's not like we have a car or something."  
"I called you guys a cab," Brendon muttered, his eyes still closed.  
"You... what?" Frank asked.  
"Cab company. It's brand new, just started up this week. I saw it months ago, but the image never turned up in any of my searches because it didn't exist yet." He shook his head. "So obvious."  
The news seemed to throw Frank for a minute, but he quickly got back to the task at hand.  
"Quinn, where are we?"  
"Edge of town," Quinn answered, tracing lines on his map. "They're on a dead end road right now so they should be-"  
"It stopped," Ray said. He was twisting his head side to side in tiny motions, like he was trying to get better reception.  
Frank and Quinn leaned over the map.  
"Here," Quinn pointed.  
It was a large white square at the end of a long road.  
"A warehouse or something?" Frank guessed. "Or a factory maybe?"  
"Somewhere they could hide lots of people without anyone around to hear or see," Brendon said darkly.  
"Mikey. Oh God, Mikey," Gerard started to whimper.  
"We're going to him right now, Gerard. Don't you worry," Frank said fiercely.  
Bob returned then with Spencer and Bert in tow. They shut the door behind them.  
"Bob told you?" Frank asked them.  
Spencer nodded and Bert said "I'm in".  
"Alright, let's go."

The hallways were dark and mostly empty as they hurried to the cafeteria. Gabe and the Protectors had put the word out, discreetly but efficiently. The students were all in their rooms while some older students were distracting the few teachers that were still awake.  
"Wait," Brendon muttered as they reached the cafeteria doors.  
Everyone froze and held their breath, but nothing happened. Nothing they could see anyway.  
Brendon let out a breath, then nodded. "Okay, go."  
The group of boys ducked into the large room and hurried across to the doors leading out to the courtyard. They huddled by the arch, looking into the field.  
"Okay," Brendon said. "Count to... fourteen then start running."  
He turned away to head back inside. He had said something awful would happen if he went with them, and no one argued. Frank was already counting.  
"Eleven... twelve... thirteen... fourteen- Go!"  
The seven boys started sprinting, covering the open ground between the courtyard and the edge of the woods in a matter of moments. When they were safely hidden from the school by trees, Quinn took over.  
"This way," he said softly. They all followed him into the dark woods.

Gerard felt like everything was becoming clearer the further they ran. He dodged trees and rocks, stumbling a few times only to have Frank reach out and steady him. It felt like hours before they reached the white stone wall that encircled the campus, but if couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes. Quinn had led them in practically a straight line.  
As the others started to discuss how to get over the wall, Gerard started hyperventilating.  
 _Mikey_ he realized.  
"M-Mikey," he stuttered. "Oh no, oh God."  
Frank broke away from the others and grabbed Gerard's face.  
"Hey! Listen to me, Gee, we're going to get him _right now_ , okay? He's gonna be fine. You need to calm down for me, Okay? Gee?"  
"I can't- I can't reach him. In my head. He's not there!"  
"He's far away, Gee. But we know where and we're going there right now. Just breathe for me, okay? Nice and slow."  
Gerard focused on Frank's face, looked into his eyes, and breathed.  
"Hey," Bob called to them. "We figured it out."  
"Alright, let's go," Frank growled. He grabbed Gerard by the hand and dragged him over to the others.  
They were looking up at the ten foot wall, some smirking, others fearful.


	47. In Which The Boys Take A Cab

"This is the worst idea," Spencer muttered.  
"Do you have a better one?" asked Bob.  
"Obviously not," snapped Spencer.  
"Alright, then shut up and get ready to land on your feet."  
Bob grabbed Spencer under his arms, careful to not snap any ribs, and threw him over the wall.  
They all heard him land with an _oof!_ and a few seconds later he called over the wall that he was fine.  
Carefully, one by one, Bob tossed each boy over the tall stone wall. Gerard didn't have the room for a clean take off, so he was forced to let Bob throw him as well.  
Once they were all over Bob jumped, using the tremendous strength in his legs to achieve the great height, and landed next to them on a sidewalk, only cracking the cement a little bit.  
"Okay, the cab should be picking us up at the corner, so let's get going," Frank muttered.  
The group took off down the dark sidewalk. They only had to wait for a minute or two before their cab pulled up and they started piling in.  
Gerard refused though, saying he would follow them in the air. No one put up any argument except Frank who was quickly cut off by Gerard.  
"I can't sit right now, okay? I need to fly. I'll met you there."  
He took off running then, and jumped into the air a few dozen feet away.  
"Um," said the cab driver. "Are we ready to go?"  
"Yeah," Frank grumbled.

The ride was tense. Frank kept his eyes on the night sky out of his window to try and spot Gerard while the cab driver tried to make conversation.  
"So, you boys seem a little young to be calling a cab this late."  
"We're not that young," said Spencer.  
"We're trying to find one of our friends," Bert told the cabbie.  
The driver blinked at them in the review mirror.  
"You boys are mutants, aren't ya?"  
"Yeah, is that a problem?" answered Bob.  
"No, I'm on your side in all of this craziness," he assured them. "But you know, it's probably not safe for you out here at night. You hear what happened to that kid a few weeks ago?"  
A few of the boys shifted uncomfortably, but Frank just kept his eyes on the sky, looking for Gerard.  
"I'm just saying," the driver continued, "that it's becoming a warzone out here. You know I heard the mutants are starting up their own group, kind of an Anti-Anti-Mutant League thing."  
He chuckled but Bert leaned forward, looking interested.  
"Really?"  
"Oh yeah, putting up protests and trying to get the AML shut down. They're definitely not going down without a fight. There's even a mutant running for office next year."  
The boys looked at each other with raised eyebrows.  
"Good," Frank said softly. "I'd vote for him if I was 18."  
"Wait, now how old did you boys say you were?" the cabbie asked.  
"This left up here," Ray interrupted.  
Everyone fell silent as the cab driver turned up a long road that had no buildings on the sides. They drove for about five minutes before a large factory loomed out of the darkness. None of it's outside lights were on.  
The cabbie pulled to a stop and turned around to look at them.  
"Look, I'm not feeling so good about letting you boys go. What are you even doing out here?"  
Quinn leaned forward and gave the driver a small smile.  
"It's fine. You can call the cops if you want, but only after you leave. We have to go. Thanks for the ride."  
Bob handed over the cash that Brendon had given him and they all piled out.  
"Good luck to you, whatever you're doing," the driver said. He frowned and drove away.  
"He's definitely gonna call the cops," Quinn muttered.  
"Well we better get fucking going then, huh?"  
Everyone spun around to see Gerard walking towards them.  
"Gee!" Frank rushed forward to hug him.  
Gerard seemed tense but focused. The flight over seemed to help strengthen his resolve.  
"You guys ready?" he asked as Frank stepped back.  
They all nodded.


	48. In Which The Boys Sneak In (Kinda)

Spencer hid himself then reached out to grab Bob's hand. To anyone looking it seemed as if the two boys just vanished into thin air, but Quinn was squinting at them, frowning.  
"It's like I can still see you, but just barely. You're like a chameleon or something."  
"I cannot tell you how sick I am of people being able to see me when I Hide," Spencer grumbled, his voice coming from the thin air. "Alright, grab onto each other and stay close, I'll get us to the building."  
Everyone joined hands and when Bob reached out to grab Quinn's hand, they all vanished. A few of them cursed as their bodies disappeared.  
"I think I'm gonna throw up," Bert whispered.  
"Well fucking don't," Spencer told him. "I can still see you, you're fine. Come on."  
The seven of them walked slowly toward the dark factory, holding hands and following Spencer in a line. Bob was glad they were invisible, because he wouldn't want to have been seen like this.  
They found a door and paused outside of it, huddled together.  
"Quinn?" Frank asked.  
"I can't hear anything."  
"Ray?"  
"There's no cameras or anything. No alarm on the door either."  
"Awesome." Frank let go and became visible. The others quickly followed suit, wiping their sweaty palms on their jeans.  
Bert tried the door but it was locked. Bob stepped forward and easily tore the handle away, then pushed the door open.  
A dark, empty hallway confronted them and they all hesitated. Gerard was the first to step through and everyone followed after.  
They crept down the dark hallway slowly, hearts pounding.  
Frank was terrified, though he would never admit it to anyone.  
Gerard was almost in a trance, completely focused on finding his little brother.  
Bert was wound tight, waiting to pounce. He could almost feel a fight coming.  
Quinn was listening as hard as he could, ignoring the soft sounds of his friends around him.  
Spencer was thinking they should have stayed hidden for the trip inside.  
Ray was focusing on his tracker. He could feel it close by, near the center of the building.  
Bob was busy worrying about his friends and what they might find when they reached Mikey.

Suddenly Quinn threw a hand up, making them all stop. They were close to a fork in the hallway and he gestured to the right path.  
He touched his chest and mouthed the word _heartbeat_ , then help up his hand and stuck out his thumb and index finger. _Got a gun!_ he mouthed.  
Bert nudged Spencer with his hand and nodded at the right hallway. Spencer grabbed his wrist and they both disappeared. The other boys stayed perfectly still and silent, until a moment later when the sounds of a scuffle broke out.  
Everyone rushed forward, trying not to make noise, and peered around the corner. Spencer was leaning against the wall with a little grin on his face. The guard was on the ground, bleeding from his head. Bert was standing over him grinning and holding a pistol.  
"Look what I found," he muttered, pulling the clip out and checking it over. "It's loaded."  
"You know how to handle a gun?" Frank asked quietly.  
"'Course," Bert shrugged. "My older brother taught me."  
"How'd you know he was armed?" Spencer asked Quinn.  
"It smells like oil and metal and gunpowder," Quinn answered, staring at the weapon.  
"Alright," Frank whispered, "Quinn and Bert go first, the rest of us will follow. Bob, stay behind us and watch our backs, yeah?"  
"Got it."  
They continued on, following Ray's directions and watching Quinn for a sign of another guard.  
They took down two more men, both middle aged and armed. Bert gave Spencer and Frank a crash course lesson on handling a gun as they continued to creep forward.  
They all seemed to realize at once that they never learned anything about guns in Combat 101, which suddenly seemed like a huge oversight in their education.  
"Why the fuck did we learn bow and arrows?" Frank grumbled. "Nobody fucking uses those anymore!"  
"I think it would be kind of illegal for them to teach us to shoot in school," Quinn answered.  
"But still, what the fuck. I'm having a serious conversation with Mr. Green when we get back."  
A few of the boys chuckled until Ray shushed them.  
"Come on, we're close."  
Everyone sobered up and they moved forward again.  
They didn't encounter any more guards so they began jogging up the halls. So much time had passed since Mikey had been taken... what were they going to see when they found his tracker?  
The boys stopped in front of a metal door. Ray nodded slowly.  
"It's on the other side."  
"I can hear someone breathing," Quinn confirmed. "A kid, not an adult."  
"Alright," Frank said, his voice trembling slightly. "Are we ready?"  
Everyone nodded except Gerard, who was glaring at the metal door.  
Bob motioned for everyone to stand back. He tried the handle but it was locked, so he kicked the door and it went flying inward, hanging off broken hinges.  
Everyone rushed in, spreading out to the sides of the door and looking around.  
It was a large room, empty except for a chair in the center and a single light hanging from the ceiling. It was like a scene from a movie.  
In the chair, tied to the arms and legs and clearly unconscious, was Mikey.  
"Mikey!" Gerard gasped, running forward and dropping to his knees in front of the chair. "Mikey, Mikey wake up!" He grabbed his little brother's face and pulled his eyelids open. The boy stayed unconscious, flickering in and out of sight every few seconds.  
Gerard turned back to his friends. "Come on, help me untie him!"  
Frank started forward but suddenly stopped.  
"Well, isn't this an unexpected surprise?"  
Everyone jumped and looked to the right corner of the room, where someone was stepping forward into the light.  
"What the fuck?" Frank gasped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, last chance to place bets!
> 
> Who's the bad guy?!
> 
> What's Gerard's secret power?!
> 
> There are only five more chapters after this one :)


	49. In Which The Boys Fight!

"Language, Mr. Iero," smirked Mr. Davies.  
The teacher walked forward into the light and grinned around at them all. The boys stood completely still, in shock.  
"I truly wasn't expecting a rescue party. How did you all get here? How did you know where I took the youngest Mr. Way?"  
No one spoke except Gerard.  
"Mr. Davies? You're the one who's been... kidnapping and wiping the student's powers?"  
"Wiping them?" Mr. Davies asked. "Oh no, I've been taking them."  
He waved his hand in Gerard's direction and the winged boy suddenly fell backwards, skidding ten feet across the floor like he had been backhanded by a giant.  
Frank raised his gun and shot at Mr. Davies, no thought of consequences in his head. The sight of Gerard laying unconscious on the floor filled him with rage.  
But Mr. Davies simply smirked and was suddenly surrounded by a bright, shining white circle of light. The bullet pinged against the shield and fell to the floor.  
"You-!" Frank gasped. "You can't!"  
"Oh indeed I can, Mr. Iero. You think I would let these powers go to waste? The powers that you children barely understand and struggle to use? I'm perfecting them!"  
With that he twirled his hand around and created a small knife out of Frank's lost light-power. He tossed the knife and instead of it dissipating after a few feet like it had for Frank, it flew across the room and stuck in Frank's shoulder. He cried out and dropped his gun, falling to his knees.  
"You have no _idea_ the power you had," Mr. Davies scoffed. "You could barely even control it!"  
"But, but my wings..." Frank groaned. Blood was seeping out between his fingers as he pressed against his wound. The knife had faded away after it hit him.  
"I didn't want them," Mr. Davies shrugged. "I have them, I could grow them if I wanted. But then everyone would know, wouldn't they? Besides, I never really cared for flight."  
"Why are you doing this?" Quinn yelled, taking a step forward.  
"God, you're all so _stupid_!" Mr. Davies shouted back. "Don't you understand what's happening!? The Anti-Mutant League is trying to have us all put down like animals! Someone needs to stop them."  
"You're not working with the AML?" Bert asked.  
"I'm going to _kill_ the AML, every single member," Mr. Davies answered. "I just need the right combination of powers and then I'll be unstoppable."  
He glanced around at the boys who had come to rescue Mikey.  
"Yours, of course," he said, motioning to Bob. "And yours, and probably yours," he said to Bert and Quinn. "I'm a little disappointed to see that the prophet and his little empath friend didn't come along. I would have loved to have had their powers."  
"If you're not working with the AML, then who _are_ you working with?" Quinn demanded.  
"No one, you stupid boy! Those men out there are hired guards. Anyone will do anything for money. But once I have little Mr. Way's powers, I won't need to bribe anyone ever again, I'll just get in their heads and force them to do whatever I want."  
"You haven't taken his powers yet?"  
Everyone glanced over to see Gerard regaining consciousness. He struggled into a seated position and glared at Mr. Davies.  
"No, unfortunately," Mr. Davies answered. "The little brat locked me out."  
"What do you mean he locked you out?"  
"After I knocked out his pyro friend he sank so deep into his meditation that I couldn't get in to take his powers," the teacher admitted. "I should have taken him first before he learned walls, I didn't realize how quickly he would progress. I have to say, he's probably more powerful than all of you put together."  
Suddenly one of Bert's knives went flying at Mr. Davies, immediately followed by Bob sprinting forward.  
Mr. Davies knocked the knife aside with Frank's shield easily then turned to face the bulldozer that was Bob. With a blink a giant cat formed in front of Mr. Davies, growling and seemingly on fire. The giant cat pounced and knocked Bob back, forcing him to fend off claws and teeth instead of attacking the teacher.  
"That first girl," Mr. Davies said over the racket of the fight. "What was her name?"  
"Cate," Frank spat.  
"Ah yes, hellcat physiology. I love that one, even though it took some doing to get the girl's cat to answer to me." The cat vanished then, leaving Bob unconscious on the factory room floor. Frank stared at him in shock. Bob was supposed to be invulnerable.  
"Cheater," Bert suddenly said. "You couldn't possibly take any of us on if you didn't steal powers from children!"  
Mr. Davies sighed. "You know, you're probably right."  
Bert tightened his grip on the stolen pistol, but was immediately struck with what seemed to be purple lightning, shot from Mr. Davies palm.  
"But fortunately, I don't have to," the teacher smirked as Bert dropped to the floor.  
Quinn rushed forward and dropped to Bert's side. Ray was helping Gerard to his feet. Frank was quickly fading from losing so much blood. Spencer was no where to be found.  
"Ah, Mr. Smith," called Mr. Davies into the large room. "No tricks now, you know it's not nice to sneak up on people."  
The gun lying on the floor next to Frank vanished and Mr. Davies shot a bolt of purple lightning in that direction. It fizzed over Frank's head and hit the wall, cracking the cement blocks. Ray glanced up and the single light above them winked out.  
"Hide and seek it is then," Mr. Davies laughed.  
A shot was fired and everyone ducked, except for Mr. Davies who shot off a bolt of lightning. It crackled against the wall.  
Another shot went off and Mr. Davies swore. A bolt of lightning danced across the room and struck Spencer in the chest, lighting him up in the darkness for a moment before everything went black again.  
"Damn it," Mr. Davies muttered. He raised his voice and called to Ray. "Mr. Toro, if you don't want me to end this little sneak's life, you better turn that light back on."  
A second passed then the light bulb buzzed back to life.  
Mr. Davies had been shot in the hip and Spencer was lying unconscious about ten feet behind him, hand still wrapped around the gun.  
"Alright!" the teacher yelled, hand pressed against his hip. "I'm sick of this fooling around. Surrender, right now, or I'll kill you all one by one, starting with the telepath."  
He conjured a knife made of light and strode over to where Mikey was still tied to the chair, head lolling on his shoulder. He grabbed Mikey by his hair and tilted his head back, setting the knife to his throat.  
Quinn slid his and Bert's guns across the floor.  
"Now, everyone lay on the ground," he demanded.  
Quinn quickly laid down next to Bert. Frank and Bob were already down, as was Spencer. Ray took a step back and laid down too.  
"You too, Gerard," Mr. Davies ordered.  
Gerard glared at him and stayed on his feet.  
"Fuck you, give me my little brother."  
"You know, you're my biggest disappointment, Mr. Way. There's greatness inside you, but you're just too weak to find it! You and your brother are so frustrating! Do you know how many people in this world have the ability to create mental walls so strong I can't break through them? Almost none! But _you_! You and your brother just have to be so difficult!"  
"Sorry about that," Gerard muttered, stepping forward slowly.  
"After I crack into Mikey's skull, you're next," Mr. Davies said, pointing the light-power knife at him.  
"And then what?" Gerard asked, still moving slowly forward. "Steal all the powers you want, then kill the AML, then what?"  
"Maybe I'll just keep gathering powers," Mr. Davies chuckled.  
"And rule the world? That's real original," Gerard scoffed.  
"Like getting a bunch of rag-tag losers to come rescue your brother is any more original," Mr. Davies shot back. "It didn't even work!"  
"You know the cops are on their way, right? And the other teachers. The Protectors stayed behind to warn them after we left."  
"I'm not too worried about it, to be honest," Mr. Davies shrugged, still pointing the knife at Gerard as he crept forward. "Once I have Mikey's abilities I might as well expose myself to the world anyway."  
"You'll never get them, you know," Gerard said. "You can't get in his head any more than you can get in mine."  
Mr. Davies smiled then, and Gerard stopped.  
"You know, maybe you're right," the teacher chuckled. "Maybe I shouldn't waste my time."  
He swung the knife back around and plunged it toward Mikey's chest.  
"No, DON'T!" Gerard shouted.  
Mr. Davies' hand froze mid-air. He blinked at the knife, then pulled back and tried to stab Mikey again.  
"I said STOP."  
Mr. Davies froze. He stared at Gerard and Gerard stared back, eyes wide.  
"What are you doing?" Mr. Davies demanded.  
"I- I don't-"  
"How did you do that?!"  
Gerard was breathing heavily, focused on the knife in Mr. Davies' hand. He gulped.  
"Let go of the knife," Gerard commanded.  
Mr. Davies opened his hand and the bright white knife dissipated.  
"Now step way from my brother," Gerard ordered.  
Mr. Davies started to move away, slow step after slow step.  
"That's it, isn't it?" he asked as he walked backward. "That's the power you've been hiding from yourself. No wonder."  
"I don't understand," Gerard said.  
"You're a puppet master," Mr. Davies growled. "That's a dark power, Mr. Way. No wonder you blocked it from yourself. No wonder your body couldn't contain it and sprouted dark wings." He laughed.  
"Shut up!"  
The laughter stopped with a choking noise.  
Gerard rushed forward and grabbed at Mikey. He was still unconscious, still meditating.  
Mr. Davies coughed, then started talking again.  
"You know, you might just be the most powerful mutant I've ever met. You and I could do amazing things together... just think about it. You could order the AML to disband, you could get anyone to do anything you want. You could have everything you've ever wanted."  
"I said _shut up!_ "  
"Gerard," muttered Quinn as he got to his feet. "The cops are outside, I can hear the sirens."  
Ray got to his feet as well and ran over to where Frank was bleeding out, quickly pressing both hands to his shoulder.  
Gerard stood up straight and glared at Mr. Davies.  
"You're going to surrender without a fight. You're going to give back all the powers you stole. You're going to confess everything to the cops."  
Mr. Davies was grinding his teeth, eyes filled with rage.  
"Where are the other kids?" Ray asked.  
"Answer him," Gerard ordered.  
Mr. Davies growled out the answer. "In the basement."  
"I'm gonna go get the cops," Quinn muttered. He left through the door they had come in. A few moments later the room filled with armed officers. They pinned Mr. Davies to the wall and handcuffed him and he surrendered without a fight, just like Gerard had told him to.  
As he was led out of the room Gerard could hear him babbling to any cop that would listen, confessing his every crime.  
Gerard watched as two cops untied Mikey, then all the energy in him seemed to flow away, and he passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four chapters left!


	50. In Which The Boys Get Back To School

_Gerard?_  
 _Mikey? What's going on?_  
 _I dunno. Did Mr. Davies get you too?_  
 _What? No. We totally rescued you, it was awesome._  
 _Wait, really?_  
 _Yeah. Mr. Davies got arrested and everything._  
 _Oh,_ Mikey muttered. _I guess I can get out of my head now._

Mikey blinked his eyes open to find himself in the hospital wing of the school. He sat up and looked around. The room was packed, half of the beds were filled and there were cops and teachers all over the place. Directly next to Mikey was Frank, unconscious and bandaged, lying still on a bed. Unconscious on a few other beds were Bob, Bert, and Spencer. Quinn and Ray were sitting up, apparently unharmed. At the far end of the room Mikey saw Pete sleeping in a bed, along with a number of other kids he didn't recognize.  
"Mikey, you're awake!" said Ray.  
"W- Where's G-G-Gerard?"  
Ray nodded to the bed on Mikey's other side, and he looked over.  
Gerard didn't seem hurt, but he was unconscious. Mikey crawled out of his bed and grabbed Gerard's shoulder and shook it.  
"Gee. Gee, wa- wake up."  
"Mikey, you're awake!" someone else called.  
Mikey looked up to see Mr. Schechter striding toward him.  
"Back in bed, come on," Mr. Schechter ordered. "Gerard is fine, he just needs some sleep."  
Mikey got back into his hospital bed and pulled the sheets up.  
"What happened?" Mikey asked.  
Mr. Schechter grinned, looking tired. "You gave us a hell of a fright, is what happened."  
"But-" Mikey started, looking around at everyone else.  
"And these idiots decided to go rescue you. Which, how did you find him again?" he asked the room at large.  
The cops and teachers fell silent to listen.  
Ray coughed a bit, his face red.  
"Uh, check Mikey's right shoe."  
One of the cops picked up Mikey's shoe from the end of his bed and looked inside. It only took him a moment to find the tracker and pull it out.  
"I, uh, designed it," Ray confessed. "It's a tracking device."  
Mr. Schechter looked equally impressed and pissed off.  
"How many of these did you make?"  
"Four. One for Mikey, Gerard, Brendon, and Ryan. The next one wasn't finished yet."  
Mr. Schechter dragged his hands over his face, keeping them over his eyes as he spoke.  
"You realize you boys could have been killed tonight? And that some of you almost were?"  
"Yes, sir," Ray and Quinn answered.  
Mr. Schechter sighed then looked around.  
"You're not going to be punished," he said. "But I swear to _God_ if any of you try anything like that again I'll expel you so fast-" He sighed again. "Ray, Quinn, you both need to give statements to the officers then you can go back to your rooms. Once the other boys wake up we'll need their statements as well."  
Ray and Quinn left the room with a few officers. Mr. Schechter turned to Mikey.  
"Get some rest Mikey. None of your friends are hurt too bad, and Gerard is just sleeping it off. Once everyone's back on their feet we're all going to have a talk, but until then, just get some rest."  
Mr. Schechter left then, following after the officers who escorted Ray and Quinn out.

 

Everyone was awake the next morning. Frank gently crawled into Gerard's bed and they stayed close, carefully avoiding Frank's shoulder. Bob had a migraine, the first one he had ever gotten in his life, and claimed it was the worst thing he had ever felt ever. Bert and Spencer were both weak, but recovering.  
Mikey found out from Pete that the other kids in the hospital wing were the ones that had been kidnapped by Mr. Davies and kept prisoner.  
Taylor arrived after breakfast with her friend Maddie, who had an impressive set of grey wings arching out of her back. They ran into the room and jumped on another brunette girl, hugging her and crying. Taylor thanked them all over and over again for saving Cate and the other students. Cate let them all know that she had almost finished breaking the chain that kept her prisoner and had been planning her escape, which made Taylor and Maddie laugh then cry even harder.  
Ray and Quinn appeared for lunch with Mr. Schechter and two cops and they all sat around and talked about the night before.  
They went over everything that had happened, every step they had taken and every decision they had made. Mr. Schechter had already heard Mr. Davies' confession but wanted to know exactly what had happened.  
When they got to the part about Gerard stopping Mr. Davies, they all fell silent.  
"It's alright," Mr. Schechter said. "Mr. Davies already told us."  
"I didn't know I could do that," Gerard said.  
"I know," he sighed. "I've been following your progress through the teacher's reports. I can't say I'm exactly _thrilled_ to have a puppet master in my school, but you'll still be welcome back next year. I'm going to have Mr. Donovan give you special ethics lessons until we can move you into one of the actual classes. You'll also be taking Power Control next year."  
"Oh, okay," Gerard muttered. Frank clenched his hand.  
"I'll tell you right now, Mr. Way, if you abuse your power I won't hesitate to expel you from my school."  
"I understand, sir."  
"Good." Mr. Schechter stood and sighed. "Some of your friends are waiting outside to see you all, do you want me to let them in?"  
They all nodded eagerly.  
After the headmaster and the cops left, a rush of students came in; Jon, Brendon, Ryan, Jepha, Dan, Joe, Patrick, Andy, and Gabe.  
There was chaos for a few minutes as everyone checked on everyone else and they all assured each other they were all fine. Eventually they all relaxed and the story was told again.  
"He _stabbed_ you?" Ryan gasped.  
"Yeah, with my own fucking knife too, the asshole," Frank grouched.  
"What's happening with that anyway?" Bert asked. "Did Mr. Davies say if he could...?"  
"Yes," Gabe answered. "They're bringing him back to the school tomorrow under heavy guard to transfer back all the powers he stole."  
Frank immediately turned and buried his face in Gerard's chest, hiding the tears they all knew he was shedding. A few of the kids who had been taken, most of whom weren't even students, started crying as well.  
Gabe continued. "Apparently he had stolen powers from no less than twenty three mutant children. The other teachers thought he had the ability to detect and block some powers, but that was only part of what he could do, originally."  
"Evil prick," Bert declared.  
"Quite," Gabe agreed.  
"What did he teach, anyway?" asked Dan.  
"Upper-level Power Control. I was in his class and I could never get a read on him, if that's your next question."  
"I'm sorry," Gerard blurted out. "For suspecting you."  
"It's alright," Gabe told him. "After Bob told me off and Mikey gave me a talking to, I started to realize how awful it was, what I had been doing. Allow me to apologize to all of you, instead."  
He turned to stare at Gerard then, looking serious. "Powers like ours are heady things, and it's easy to get swept away with them. Make sure you don't lose yourself."  
Gerard blinked a few times, then nodded.

 

The next day, Mr. Davies was brought to the hospital wing. He had four armed police officers with him and was chained by the wrists and ankles to a wheelchair. His hip was heavily bandaged. Mr. Schechter oversaw the entire process as Mr. Davies went to each bed, one by one, and gave the kids their powers back. He walked past the older boys and headed for Frank, who was holding onto Gerard tightly.  
The noise of the other kids celebrating seemed to dim as Mr. Davies set his cuffed hands on Frank's forehead. Frank had to restrain the urge to jerk away and instead focused on Gerard's hand clenched in his.  
He felt it the moment his light power flowed back into him. His skin warmed up and he felt lighter and brighter than ever. As soon as Mr. Davies pulled his hand away, Frank threw his shield up to block himself and Gerard from the world. Both boys glared at Mr. Davies as he was led from the room.  
It took a long time for Frank to feel safe enough to let his shield down.

 

Most of the students had recovered enough to go back to their own rooms, while the kids who didn't go to Schechter's were returned home now that they had their powers back.  
Bert, Bob, Mikey, Frank, and Gerard were the only ones in the wing a few nights later. Mikey and Gerard weren't hurt, but Gerard wouldn't leave Frank and Mikey wouldn't leave Gerard, so they were allowed to stay.  
So that night, when Frank woke up screaming, he only woke up four other boys.  
"Frank, Frank what's wrong? What's happening?" Gerard gasped, grabbing Frank and pulling him close to his chest.  
Frank couldn't answer, he just kept screaming.  
The nurse ran in a moment later and Bob told her to check his back.  
They carefully rolled the boy over, avoiding his knife wound, and saw that his back was bloody.  
"What's happening to him?" Gerard asked.  
"His wings are coming in again," Bob answered over Frank's yelling. "Happened when he was a kid too." He looked at the nurse and told her that Frank needed some heavy pain killers.  
The nurse ran off to get something. Gerard pulled Frank close to his chest and talked in his ear, muttering through Frank's screaming.  
"Frank, Frankie. Your wings are coming back in. Your wings, Frankie! We can fly together again. Shh, Frankie, it's just your wings."  
The nurse was back with a syringe. Gerard shut his eyes while she jabbed Frank. She rushed off to get the headmaster.  
Frank stopped screaming as the painkiller took hold, but he continued to cry and gasp. Gerard gently rolled him onto his side that didn't have a stab wound, and pulled his shirt off his back.  
Two little bones were sticking out of his skin, right between his shoulder blades. Blood was streaming from the holes.  
"Your wings, Frankie. I can see your wings," Gerard whispered in his ear.  
Frank choked on a cry and chuckled slightly.  
"Hurts as much as it did the first time," Frank said through clenched teeth.  
Gerard grabbed Frank's hand and held him as close as he could without aggravating the wounds on his back or shoulder.  
"No it doesn't, Frankie. It doesn't hurt at all," Gerard whispered.  
Frank sucked in a huge breath of air, then slowly let it out. He sat up slowly then reached back with his good arm to feel where the bones were sticking out.  
"Did you do that?" Frank asked, in awe. "Did you make them not hurt?"  
Gerard blinked. "I guess so."  
Frank grinned, wide, and kissed Gerard on the mouth.  
"Thank you, Gee."


	51. In Which Everyone Is Getting Better

"This is a _school_ ," Mr. Green insisted.  
"A school where kids need to learn to protect themselves," Bert shot back.  
"I can't bring guns into the school."  
"Then a field trip to a shooting range," Quinn suggested.  
Mr. Green sighed and looked around at the serious faces before him.  
"I'll talk to the headmaster about it for next year," he finally relented.  
Gerard and Bert high-fived.

 

The Protectors were no longer necessary, but still active.  
Gabe sought Frank out one day in the hospital wing to discuss starting a Protector group outside of school, since Gabe would be graduating soon.  
"I had thought about going into politics, but I think this is what I should do instead. The police just aren't enough, even though they have some mutant officers. We need an entire mutant police force, to stop things like Mr. Davies from happening." Gabe let out a breath. "I never really knew what to use my powers for, but _this_ , seeking out individuals to join The Protectors out in the real world. That sounds like a perfect use to me."  
"Why are you talking to me about it?" Frank asked.  
"It was your idea; The Protectors. I can't just steal them from you."  
"Wow, you've really changed since the beginning of the year, huh?" Frank laughed. "Did Mikey really give you that bad of a talking to?"  
Gabe smiled. "Mr. Schechter might have also had a chat with me."  
"So, real world Protectors, huh?"  
"I think if you want to turn it into an actual club here at school, it would be a fabulous idea. It would also serve as a start to my Protectors. Anyone who served at school would be welcome to join up with us once they graduate. What do you think?"  
Frank grinned. "I think it's a perfect idea."

 

Mikey continued to excel in his classes, including Speech Therapy, but he was still having problems turning objects invisible. Mr. Bishop said it was a mental block and Mikey laughed and said someone would probably have to threaten his brother with a knife for him to get passed it. Mr. Bishop didn't think it was funny.

 

Gerard spent his time in Meditation exploring the new rooms in his head that he never had access to before. It was scary, seeing how much power he had.  
He hadn't told anyone to do anything since he made Frank stop feeling the pain in his back. He knew he could though, and it was a sobering thought. He could tell anyone to do _anything_. He was terrified of himself and vowed to never use his ability for evil, like Mr. Davies had.  
He confessed all his fears to Frank, and Frank promised that he would never let Gerard go dark side.

 

Mr. Thompson was delighted when Bert approached him after one class to say that he thought he had found a new aspect of his ability.  
"I think I can sense when I'm about to get into a fight," Bert said. "I noticed it that night but I thought maybe it was just- you know. We were obviously heading toward a fight. But then I've been thinking about it, and the closer we got to each guard, the stronger I felt the fight approaching, you know? You think it might be something I can really do?"  
Mr. Thompson, who had been dismayed to find out that his close friend John Davies was, as he put it to his students, "an awful person", was finally smiling again.  
"I think it could be, Mr. McCracken. This is great news. I want you to work on this in your future meditations and see if you can find where this ability resides in your subconscious. Find it and bring it out, okay?"  
"Yes, sir," grinned Bert.

 

Frank remained in the hospital wing for another week, though he was eager to get back to classes. The nurse wouldn't let him leave until the thin pink skin of his wings had fully scabbed over and stopped bleeding. His wings were about as long as his thumb now.  
When he finally did get out, he returned to all of his classes. He had to play catch up in Wind and Weather Patterns, but it wasn't too hard to get back into the others. He sat on the edge of flight class and watched Gerard fly with a smile on his face, anxiously awaiting the day that he would rejoin him in the air.


	52. In Which Brendon And Ryan Have A Chat

Brendon was doing homework at the desk in his and Ryan's room when the door slammed open and Ryan stormed in.  
"Ryan, what's-?"  
"Alright, I need to know," Ryan demanded. "Why didn't we go with them that night?"  
Brendon blinked, then sunk back into his chair.  
"If I went, something would have gone wrong and we would have lost. I don't know how, or what, but I saw Mr. Davies taking all of our powers."  
"Is that why you told me I couldn't go? Because we would have lost?"  
"No, that was only if I went."  
"Then why tell me I couldn't go? I could have helped them!"  
"I didn't want you to get hurt," Brendon admitted.  
"You saw me getting hurt?"  
"No, I just... didn't want to risk it."  
"You let everyone else take the risk, even Frank when he didn't have his powers."  
"But you're... you," Brendon said weakly.  
"What difference does that make?" Ryan demanded.  
"It just, it just does."  
Ryan frowned at Brendon's blush, then crossed his arms.  
"Fine. I'm done playing, you need to tell me."  
"Tell you what?" Brendon asked.  
"Why we wouldn't work out as a couple. I know you saw something and that's why you never made a move but I think I deserve to know what would have gone wrong."  
"You... what?"  
"I like you," Ryan said boldly. "And I know you like me too, I've known since the first day we met and I touched your wrist. Obviously the only reason you never made a move was because you saw something awful in our future like a really bad break up or something and decided to just not put either or us through it, but just tell me what would have happened, alright?"  
"You knew I liked you this whole time?" Brendon asked, shocked.  
Ryan smacked him around the back of the head. "I'm an empath, stupid."  
"Oh," Brendon said, seemingly realizing it for the first time. "But, no. There isn't anything bad in our relationship to make us not date. I never saw anything but good stuff."  
"Then why didn't you ever ask me out?"  
"I was waiting to see when I would, so I wouldn't mess it up by doing it at the wrong time."  
"You.... What if you never saw it? What if it never happened?!"  
"I don't know?"  
Ryan let out a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.  
"For a prophet, you really are blind, Brendon."  
"What?"  
Ryan leaned down and kissed Brendon on the lips, holding on to the sides of his face so he couldn't jump away in shock. When he finally pulled away, Brendon looked like he had just been punched.  
"Oh."  
"Is that good enough?" Ryan asked. "Can we be boyfriends now?"  
Brendon smiled at all the glimpses of their future he had never seen before that were now flashing before his eyes.  
"Yeah, definitely."  
"Good, you idiot," Ryan laughed. "Now kiss me again."

 

Mikey spluttered, spraying the table with orange juice.  
"Aw, ew! Mikey!" Gerard cried.  
"B- Brendon and Ryan!" Mikey coughed, laughing and wiping juice from his face.  
"Did they finally hook up?" Bob asked.  
Mikey nodded.  
"Hallelujah!" Bob shouted as the entire table burst into laughter.


	53. In Which We End The Story

Final exams were done and they were already a few days into June. Everyone was getting ready to go home, packing their things and saying goodbye to friends.

Gerard though, was just trying to get some sleep.  
It was almost 2am when Frank woke him up, shaking his shoulder.  
"Gee, Gee come on, it itches," Frank whispered.  
"No it doesn't, Frankie. It doesn't itch," Gerard slurred sleepily.  
"Yeah, no. It still itches. Come _on_ , scratch 'em for me, pleeeease?"  
Gerard sighed and opened his eyes.  
The wound on Frank's shoulder had healed up and was mostly scarred over by now, even though a few patches were still scabs. Frank rolled onto his stomach and Gerard grinned slightly as he watched Frank twitch the hand sized wings that protruded from his back. The feather tracts were beginning to poke through the pink skin and Frank wouldn't stop complaining about the itch.  
"Fine, fine," Gerard sighed.  
He reached over to run his nails along the skin of Frank's wings. He scratched the rest of Frank's back too, for good measure.  
Frank moaned, rolling his shoulders.  
"God, that's so much better."  
"Can I go back to sleep now?"  
"No," Frank pouted, rolling back onto his side to look at Gerard. "You promise you're coming to my place this summer?"  
"My parents said it's cool, Frankie. I _promise_ I'll come visit."  
Frank nuzzled his face into the warmth of Gerard's neck. "It's gonna be awesome."  
"Every hour you keep me awake at school is an hour I'm going to ignore you in Chicago and hang out with Bob instead," Gerard murmured.  
"Meanie," Frank sighed. He planted a kiss to Gerard's neck and closed his eyes to try and get back to sleep.  
"Love you, Frankie," Gerard said softly.  
Frank grinned. "Love you too, Gee."

 

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> 
> 
>  
> 
> Art by Anon  
> 


	54. Character and Class List

Frank - Flight (Angel Wings), Light Power  
Gerard - Flight (Bat Wings), Puppet Master  
Mikey - Invisibility, Telepathy  
Ray - Technopathy  
Bob - Invulnerability, Super Strength  
Brendon - Precognition  
Ryan - Empathy  
Jon- Animal Manipulation  
Spencer - Enhanced Spy Skills  
Pete - Fire Manipulation  
Patrick - Healing  
Andy - Plant Manipulation  
Joe - Water Manipulation  
Bert - Enhanced Combat (Hand to Hand Only)  
Quinn - Enhanced Senses  
Jepha - Enhanced Marksmanship  
Dan - Weapon Proficiency  
Gabe - Power Detection  
Travis - Adoptive Muscle Memory  
William - Peak Human State  
Victoria - Flower Manipulation

Staff;

Julie - Administrations (Teleportation)  
Timothy - Administration (Unknown)  
Brian Schechter - Headmaster (Unknown)  
Mr. Thompson - Meditation teacher (Unknown)  
Mr. Stevens - Flight instructor (Unknown - Flight)  
Mr. Green - Combat 101 teacher (Unknown)  
Mrs. Spooner - Equestrian, Animal care (Unknown)  
Mrs. Ward - Stealth teacher (Unknown)  
Mr. Donovan – Ethics teacher (Unknown)  
Mrs. Kozlov – Tracking teacher (Teleportation w/ smoke)  
Mr. Bishop – Power Control teacher (Unknown)  
Mr. Davies – upper-class Power Control (Power Detection/Blocking, Power Transfer)

Class Schedules;  
(free is an empty block, x2 is a double block. Their days are set up; Breakfast, two blocks, Lunch, two blocks, Dinner)

Gerard-  
Meditation, Flight, Combat 101, free  
Drawing I, Geometry, free, History  
Meditation, Flight, Biology, free  
Wind and Weather Patterns x2, Physics x2  
free, Geometry, free, English

Frank-  
Meditation, Flight, free x2 (Power Control after new year)  
History, Geometry, Physics x2  
Meditation, Flight, English, Biology  
Patterns x2, History, Combat 101  
free, Geometry, Band x2

Bob-  
Algebra II, free, Demolition x2  
Ethics, Meditation, free, History  
free, Combat 101, English, Biology  
free x2, Physics x2  
free, Meditation, Band x2

Ray-  
Algebra II, free, free, Chemistry  
Ethics, Meditation, free, History  
free, Combat 101, English, free  
World Languages, free, Engineering  
free, Meditation, Band x2

Brendon-  
Algebra II, free, free, Chemistry  
Meditation, free, Combat 101, free  
free, Ethics, free, Time Alteration  
World Languages, free, History, free  
Meditation, free, Power Control, English

Ryan-  
Psychology, free, Equestrian x2  
Meditation, Geometry, Combat 101, free  
free, Ethics, free, Biology  
free, Sociology, History, free  
Meditation, free, Power Control, English

Jon-  
Meditation, free, Equestrian x2  
English, Geometry, Combat 101, free  
Meditation, Ethics, free, Biology  
free, Sociology, History, free  
Swim, free, Animal Care x2

Spencer-  
Meditation, free, Equestrian x2  
English, Geometry, Combat 101, History  
Meditation, Ethics, free, Biology  
free, Stealth, Painting x2  
Anatomy, free, Medicine, free

Bert-  
Tracking x2, Combat 101, free  
Drawing I, Geometry, free, Meditation  
free, Martial Arts, free, Biology  
free, Ethics, History, free  
Anatomy, English, Medicine, Meditation

Quinn-  
Tracking x2, Combat 101, Chemistry  
Survival 101 x2, free, Meditation  
free, Sociology, Algebra II, free  
Home Ec, Ethics, History, free  
free, English, Power Control, Meditation

Jepha-  
Tracking x2, Combat 101, free  
Home Ec, free, free, Meditation  
Archery x2, Algebra II, free  
free, Ethics, History, free  
Anatomy, English, Medicine, Meditation

Dan-  
Tracking x2, Combat 101, Chemistry  
free, Geometry, free, Meditation  
Archery x2, free, Time Alteration  
free, Ethics, History, free  
Anatomy, English, Medicine, Meditation

Gabe-  
Government, free, free, Pre-Calc  
Home Ec, free, Journalism, free  
Gymnastics x2, Advanced Physics, Latin  
Home Ec, free, free, Meditation  
free, Power Control, Ethics, free

William-  
Government, free, free, Pre-Calc  
Survival 101 x2, Journalism, free  
Gymnastic x2, Advanced Physics, free  
free x2, free, Meditation  
Anatomy, Adv. Combat, Ethics, free

Travis-  
AP Lit, free, Pottery x2  
Survival 101 x2, free x2  
Gymnastics x2, Advanced Physics, Statistics  
free x2, Ethics, Meditation  
free, Adv. Combat, free, History

Victoria-  
Government, free, free, Pre-Calc  
Survival 101 x2, Journalism, free  
Latin, free, free, Communing w/ Nature  
free, Stealth, Ethics, Meditation  
Photography x2, Enviro. Science, History

Mikey-  
Science, Meditation, Ethics, fre  
free, History,, Power Control, free  
free, Meditation, free, Art (changed to Speech Therapy)  
Stealth, free, Gym, free  
Math, free, Reading/Writing, free

Pete-  
Science, Meditation, Ethics, free  
free, History, Power Control, free  
free, Meditation, free, Communing w/ Nature  
Stealth, free, Gym, Elementals  
Math, free, Reading/Writing, free

Patrick-  
Science, Meditation, Ethics, free  
free, History, Power Control, Medicine  
Home Ec, Meditation, free, Anatomy  
Swim x2, Herbology x2  
Math, free, Reading/Writing, free

Joe-  
Science, free, Meditation, Ethics  
free, History, Power Control, free  
Home Ec, free, Meditation, free  
Swim x2, free, Elementals  
Math, free, Reading/Writing, free

Andy-  
Science, free, Meditation, Ethics  
free, History, Power Control, free  
Home Ec, free, Meditation, Communing w/ Nature  
Swim x2, Herbology x2  
Math, Spanish, Reading/Writing, free

(Excuse the in-joke classes. It was like 3am when my betas and I created this list and at a certain point we were like "fuck it")  
Special thanks to Michaela, without whom this list never would have been created.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ask me questions about the story in the comments and I'll answer it in a FAQ Chapter


	55. Question and Answer

1\. Will there be a sequel?  
Yes, I'm already working on The Summer and pre-planning the plot for next year's school story, as well as a few one shots of a few of the characters as children when they get their powers and other kinds of mini-stories within this verse. Mutant!Verse is definitely going to be a thing, something I'll probably be working on for a few years if you guys keep reading :)

2\. What about Pete/Mikey?  
I probably shouldn't have listed them as a ship in this story, sorry. They're 11 in this fic and while they weren't in a relationship in BSSFTG, they will be in later stories.

3\. Would you publish BSSFTG as a book?  
I would love to, but it would take a LOT of work for me to go back through and fix any errors, change every band member into an OC, fill in plot holes and add detail. It's certainly a possibility for the future.

4\. Will we see more of Brendon and Ryan in the future?  
Yes, they'll be in the other stories. They were originally going to be lesser, background characters like Jon and Spencer, but the readers demanded more of them and assumed they were main characters, so I made them more important then I had planned. I write the chapters one or two at a time, so the comments really help shape the story. When I realized that Brendon and Ryan were two of the most popular characters in the story, I made them more prominent.

 

Ask me anything and I'll answer it here! I'm also still accepting art for any chapter that doesn't already have a piece assigned to it.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Every Little Girl Wants A Puppy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/656664) by [howrseluvar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/howrseluvar/pseuds/howrseluvar)




End file.
